NEW YORK, NY - Advocating a political reconciliation in Afghanistan, the outgoing UN envoy in the war-torn nation has said that India had a role to play in enhancing regional cooperation to benefit the country.

“When I talk about regional coordination or regional cooperation, it embraces the wider region, where India is also an important part,” Kai Eide said when asked whether bad blood between India and Pakistan was having a negative impact on Afghanistan.

But the UN envoy who is believed to be playing mediatory role to set up talks between moderates in Taliban and Afghan government, skirted responding to queries on recent attacks on Indian officials in the Afghan capital and killing of Pakistani construction workers in Kandahar.

“I don’t think I will speculate on any of these incidents, in particular since investigations are going on... The only thing I can say is that every incident of this sort is a deep tragedy. We have witnessed that ourselves and we know how hard it is. But to speculate more of interaction here, I don’t think I agree,” he said.

Eide, a Norwegian, is being replaced by Swiss diplomat Staffan de Mistura, who will take over as UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Afghanistan and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.