India centrally important for US success in Afghan: Holbrooke

''I want to be sure that everyone here recognises how centrally important Indian will be to this (the US success in Afghanistan and Pakistan),'' he told US lawmakers at a Congressional hearing on Afghanistan and Pakistan convened by the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee chaired by Senator John Kerry, a key aid of President Barack Obama.

Holbrooke was recently in India to have discussions with the Indian leaders on Af-Pak issue.
"India is not formally part of my mandate, but with the support of the Indians, I try to go to New Delhi as often as I can to keep them informed and to discuss the situation with them," Holbrooke told US lawmakers.

"I don't think it would be valuable to go into details in the public forum, but I do want to stress that the Indians are very, very anxious that we succeed in Afghanistan. They're supporting us," he said.

"They are giving Afghanistan a lot of aid, particularly in the field of agriculture which is also our primary non-security priority – agriculture," he said.