NEW DELHI: Indian and American armed forces may be conducting a flurry of joint war games to build `interoperability' in tune with their growing strategic ties but India remains firm that there is no question of it joining the US-led military operations either in Afghanistan or Iraq.
"I am saying categorically that there is no question of Indian military involvement in Afghanistan. I do not foresee such a situation, not now or in the future," defence minister A K Antony said on Wednesday.
India is helping Afghanistan only with humanitarian aid, reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts, and it will be limited to that, he added.
This comes in the backdrop of India holding its largest-ever ground combat exercise with US at Babina, near Jhansi, earlier this month. The 15-day exercise, interestingly, was codenamed `Yudh Abhyas' (preparation for war) and revolved around the use of mechanised infantry, with its combat vehicles, for counter-insurgency/counter-terrorism in semi-urban terrain.
During the exercise, on being asked whether US would like to have Indian troops helping it in Afghanistan, a top American military commander had said his troops would be comfortable operating with their Indian counterparts anywhere and anytime in the future.
The US, anxious to grab a major chunk of the lucrative Indian arms market, had undertaken `live-fire ops' of its high-tech weaponry like the Stryker infantry armoured vehicles and Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) during the wargames.
Incidentally, it was the largest overseas deployment of the Strykers after Iraq and Afghanistan, with the US Army coming with 17 of the eight-wheeled armoured combat vehicles for the war games.
"I am saying categorically that there is no question of Indian military involvement in Afghanistan. I do not foresee such a situation, not now or in the future," defence minister A K Antony said on Wednesday.
India is helping Afghanistan only with humanitarian aid, reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts, and it will be limited to that, he added.
This comes in the backdrop of India holding its largest-ever ground combat exercise with US at Babina, near Jhansi, earlier this month. The 15-day exercise, interestingly, was codenamed `Yudh Abhyas' (preparation for war) and revolved around the use of mechanised infantry, with its combat vehicles, for counter-insurgency/counter-terrorism in semi-urban terrain.
During the exercise, on being asked whether US would like to have Indian troops helping it in Afghanistan, a top American military commander had said his troops would be comfortable operating with their Indian counterparts anywhere and anytime in the future.
The US, anxious to grab a major chunk of the lucrative Indian arms market, had undertaken `live-fire ops' of its high-tech weaponry like the Stryker infantry armoured vehicles and Javelin anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) during the wargames.
Incidentally, it was the largest overseas deployment of the Strykers after Iraq and Afghanistan, with the US Army coming with 17 of the eight-wheeled armoured combat vehicles for the war games.
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