Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani (Left) with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Right) – PTI Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani (Left) with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Right) – PTI

Rabindranath Tagore’s famous short story “Kabuliwala” has contributed more to brand Afghanistan which it could not do with billions of dollars, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said today while fondly remembering the late Nobel laureate.

Ghani, who arrived here yesterday, identified terror as a major challenge facing the region and said his government was determined to make Afghanistan the “graveyard of terror”.

He was full of praise for Indian democracy as he talked about Tagore and the cultural links between the two countries.

In “Kabuliwala”, Tagore depicts the story of an Afghan travelling to India with the intention to earn some money in order to pay debts and to save his home in Afghanistan.

“May I take a moment to thank Rabindranath Tagore. ‘Kabuliwala’ has done more to give us a brand which we could not buy with a billion dollars of advertisements.

“I am delighted that the old version is being watched and a new version is being prepared that will give you a much more authentic sitting inside Afghanistan,” Ghani said while speaking at a joint briefing along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House.

He fondly remembered the works of Tagore and said that he was taught about the famous author during his childhood by his grandmother.

“I speak of Tagore because I was raised on Tagore by my grandmother who lived in Dehradun…,” Ghani said while talking about India’s vision and the remarkable transformation.

“But India’s impact on others is not been as much understood.”

Ghani also spoke about Abul Kalam Azad, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and talked highly about Indian democracy.

“Abul Kalam Azad, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were not names but ideas people leaders. I would like to pay tribute to Indian democracy, to the discourse of rule of law, to the discourse of equality, to the discourse to the engagement in transformation,” he said.

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