Former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for raising the issue of Balochisthan in his Independence Day address, saying Afghanistan understands the problems being faced by the people of Pakistan's southern province. “Pakistani authorities have spoken freely on Afghanistan and India, but this is the first time that the PM of India has spoken about Balochistan,” Mr. Karzai said during a visit to Delhi. Speaking to an all-party meeting on Kashmir last week, and in his address on independence day,Mr. Modi had vowed to take up the cause of Baloch people facing repression in Pakistan on the international stage, and said he had received many messages from them. In an interactive session on Regional Power Play and Rise of Radicalism in Afghanistan, he identified terrorism as the single biggest challenge facing the region and called for a united fight to defeat it. "I very much hope that India would bolster its support for Afghanistan, and strengthen the Afghan forces to bring peace and stability to that country. We should simultaneously seek peaceful relations with our neighbour, Pakistan." he said to reporters.