President Patil congratulates Karzai on re-election

New Delhi, Nov 4 : President Pratibha Patil Wednesday congratulated Hamid Karzai on his re-election as the president of Afghanistan and expressed confidence that the bilateral ties between New Delhi and Kabul will be strengthened under his leadership.

"I am confident that under your leadership our rich and dynamic bilateral relationship - a strategic development partnership - will be further enhanced and strengthened," Patil said in her message.

She said that the people of India "share with the people of Afghanistan a civilizational relationship that straddles trade, commerce, architecture, politics and culture.

"As a fellow democracy and a member of SAARC, we wish the people of Afghanistan success as they march on the path of development, prosperity, peace and democracy," Patil added.

The Afghan independent Election Commission Monday scrapped a controversial presidential run-off vote after Karzai's only rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew from the fray.

India actively supported the Hamid Karzai government in its first term by pledging over $1.2 billion in aid directed towards the reconstruction of the violence-torn country.

Undeterred by the attacks on its embassy in Kabul twice, India has stressed that terror acts will not deter it from continuing its reconstruction activities that have earned New Delhi enormous goodwill among the Afghan people.

--IANS