Though Mr. Mukherjee has been travelling to various countries since taking over as External Affairs Minister in November 2006, the month of January has been particularly hectic. In the last 24 days, Mukherjee has visited Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, the Philippines, Pakistan, Myanmar and Afghanistan. The primary objective of these visits has been to extend an invitation to various leaders to attend the XIVth SAARC Summit to be held in New Delhi in April this year, besides a review of bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of common interest.

On Wednesday, heavy snowfall led to a curtailment of a number of pre-scheduled official programmes, but this did not stop Mukherjee from taking time off to enjoy the snow and visits to places of historical interest in Kabul in a leisurely manner.

He visited the site where the new Afghan Parliament is to be built with the help of aid from the Indian Government. The new complex is scheduled to come up opposite Darul Aman. He also visited Bagh-e Babur, the place where the first Mughal Emperor Ziauddin Mohammad Babur is entombed overlooking the city of Kabul, and the Kabul Museum.

At an official level, Mukherjee said on Wednesday that the re-emergence of the Taliban regime after a gap of six years should be controlled if democracy was to take root in Afghanistan.

"The democratic process which began in Afghanistan, if it is to be taken to logical conclusion and if it is to succeed then the re-emergence of Taliban and their terrorist activities must be controlled," Mukherjee told reporters.

Mukherjee was in Kabul to invite Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai for a summit of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation in New Delhi in April. Afghanistan is the newest member to the now eight-member regional grouping.

Taliban has staged a surprise comeback in the war-torn country with the bloodiest violence since US-led troops forced them from power in 2001. More than 4,000 people were killed on both sides in 2006 including 170 foreign troops.

The violence, particularly in the south and east near the border with Pakistan, has eased since a bitter winter set in but is expected to intensify when the weather improves.

"They are operating from the border areas therefore it is to be if you want to tackle them effectively, that is to be controlled. The infrastructure, logistical support that they are having that must be checked. That is the primary objective of NATO which is in charge to restore normalcy and fight against terrorism," he added.

There are about 40,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, the most since 2001.

The commander of the 32,000-strong NATO force has sought more troops for countering the increasing Taliban attacks.

The US says that Taliban infiltration from Pakistan is a major problem for security forces in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, India announced that it was handing over an additional 100 million dollars in aid to Afghanistan, taking New Delhi's total assistance to Kabul to 750 million dollars since 2001.

The two countries also announced new projects under which India will help establish small projects of less than one million dollars and train civil servants.

New Delhi is also providing help to Kabul in a number of fields including health, education and infrastructure.