US President Donald Trump on Wednesday mocked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for funding a library in Afghanistan, suggesting it was of no use.<\/p>\n
Trump brought up India’s aid during a rambling press appearance at a cabinet meeting as he defended his push for the United States to invest less overseas.<\/p>\n
While stating that he got along with Modi, Trump said the Indian leader was “constantly telling me he built a library in Afghanistan”.<\/p>\n
“You know what that is? That’s like five hours of what we spend,” Trump said.<\/p>\n
“And we’re supposed to say, ‘Oh, thank you for the library.’ I don’t know who’s using it in Afghanistan,” Trump said.<\/p>\n
It was unclear to which project Trump was referring, but India has committed $3 billion in assistance to Afghanistan since US-led forces toppled the extremist Taliban regime after the September 11, 2001 attacks.<\/p>\n
Projects have included the reconstruction of an elite high school in Kabul and scholarships to India for 1,000 Afghan students each year.<\/p>\n
Inaugurating the Afghan parliament building in 2015 after reconstruction financed by India, Modi promised to promote programmes “empowering Afghan youth with modern education and professional skills”.<\/p>\n
India has been one of the most enthusiastic countries over the US mission in Afghanistan, where the former Taliban regime sheltered fiercely anti-Indian militants.<\/p>\n
Trump last month moved to pull all 2,000 US troops out of Syria and cut by half the 14,000-strong force in Afghanistan, calling for less spending overseas.<\/p>\n
Alluding in Wednesday’s remarks to the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Trump said: “Russia used to be the Soviet Union. Afghanistan made it Russia because they went bankrupt fighting in Afghanistan.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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