NEW DELHI (Times of India) - Days before External Affairs Minister S M Krishna's visit to Iran, India conveyed to Tehran that it had a major role in stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan and that India would cherish its support in handling the developing situation in that country.

Highly placed sources said this was conveyed by India's deputy NSA Alok Prasad to Iran's main security body, Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), in a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday.
Both sides remained tight-lipped about the dialogue over security-related issues. Sources, however, said Prasad told SNSC chief Saeed Jalili that India was looking forward to full-scale security cooperation between the two countries over Afghanistan and other regional security issues.
Sources said Prasad's dialogue with Jalili has helped chalk out the agenda for Krishna's visit to Tehran. How to keep the Taliban out from the government in Kabul was discussed at length by the officials.
The crucial IPI pipeline issue also came up during the discussion and Prasad conveyed to the Iranians that India's participation was being prevented solely by its concerns over security and pricing issues.
Sources said the security dialogue should be seen in the context of India's efforts to form a potent alliance — comprising ""like-minded"" countries like Russia and Iran — in dealing with the situation in Afghanistan once the reintegration, as well as reconciliation, process starts to set in.
While Russian ambassador to India Aleaxander M Kadakin said this week that Moscow was ""hundred percent with India"" over Afghanistan, New Delhi is expecting similar support from Iran. Like India, Iran maintains that there can't be a good Taliban even though, in a marked departure from India's stand, it favors immediate withdrawal of NATO troops.
India’s external affairs minister will leave for Iran on May 15 to attend the G-15 meeting on May 17-18.