India has been Afghanistan's largest development partner in the region and has built a number of the infrastructure project in the country including the Afghan parliament

Even as Afghanistan celebrated its 101st Independence Day, the Indian President Ram Nath Kovind sent a special message to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and at the special Independence Day event organised at the Afghan mission in Delhi, minister of state in the ministry of external affairs V. Muraleedharan sent his greetings calling the country a "brother".

The Indian president wrote in the message "Afghanistan and India have a lot in common, our long-standing relationship has lasted for centuries and further strengthened as we jointly fight enemies such as poverty, injustice, contagious diseases and terrorism."

"We reaffirm our support for a democratic, secure, peaceful, prosperous and pluralistic Afghanistan, and I wish that this anniversary of independence will bring peace and prosperity to Afghanistan," The Indian president added.

Indian envoy to Afghanistan Vinay Kumar was present at Afghanistan's Independence Day celebrations at Kabul. 

In Delhi, celebrations took place at the Afghan embassy which was presided over by envoy Tahir Qadiry, with Joint Secretary in MEA's PAI Division --Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran division JP Singh being the chief guest and a special video message was sent by MEA MoS V. Muraleedharan.

Calling Afghanistan a "close friend" and a "beloved brother", MoS MEA said, "India and Afghanistan are strategic partners. We have extremely good relations, both people-to-people level and government-to- government level".

Highlighting India's "commitment" for Afghanistan's capacity building Muraleedharan said, "more than 65,000 Afghan students have studied in India and they carry the message of friendship deep down to Afghan villages and towns".

He said India and Afghanistan are "contiguous neighbours, it is our PM's vision to see the peaceful prosperous and developed neighbourhood and to ensure greater connectivity in this region" reiterating, "India's support for a united, sovereign, stable, peaceful, prosperous, democratic and inclusive Afghanistan."

Both Indian and Afghan foreign ministers on Wednesday spoke to each other. 

EAM Jaishanker in a tweet said, "A productive conversation with Acting FM Haneef Atmar of Afghanistan. Greeted him on Afghan Independence Day. Discussed recent developments in Afghanistan and our bilateral cooperation. Reaffirmed our development partnership and connectivity linkages."

India has been Afghanistan's largest development partner in the region and has built a number of the infrastructure project in the country including the Afghan parliament.