Kabul: The US has sought a more active role for India in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, but ruled out any security role for New Delhi, saying it could lead to "power politics".

US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad also told a group of visiting Indian journalists in Kabul that there was no possibility of any immediate disengagement by Washington from the country.

While seeking a more active role by India in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, Khalilzad said this could not mean infusion of any Indian Army or police presence in the war-torn nation.

Any presence of regional forces as part of an international peacekeeping effort could lead to "complicity whereby Asian neighbours could begin to play power politics, of which Afghanistan had enough over the past two decades," he said.

Khalilzad, who took over in the aftermath of the Sept 11, 2004 attacks that resulted in the US-led military operation in Afghanistan, said India could play a more positive role by creating a strong civil service for Afghanistan.

"New Delhi could help the new Afghan regime in setting up dams, schools, hospitals and much needed power projects and more importantly help set up a civil service."

The US Ambassador wanted Indian help especially for the Salma Dam in Herat, which is a key project in power-starved Afghanistan and the exploration of gas fields in Shibergan, a province in north-western Afghanistan, bordering Uzbekistan.