Afghanistan: Karzai warns against 'intimidation' on US troop deal --- Afghanistan will not be bullied into signing a security pact allowing US troops to stay on after next year, President Hamid Karzai said as he pressed India on Friday for more military hardware. -- Karzai met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid at the start of a three-day visit, with the United States hoping New Delhi can persuade him to ink the troubled pact. -- India-educated Karzai has close ties with India, which is keen to ensure that the exit of some 75,000 US-led NATO troops at the end of 2014 does not trigger a return to power of the hardline Taliban militia. -- But speaking to Indian television, Karzai said he would not be "intimidated" into signing the pact which would allow 12,000 US troops to stay in Afghanistan after 2014 and sets out their terms of engagement. -- "Aggressive rhetoric won't work... We are not a nation that is known for giving into intimidation," he told NDTV. -- India has poured $2 billion in reconstruction aid into Afghanistan, and Karzai's ambassador to Kabul said ahead of the visit that requests for more military assistance would be high on the agenda. -- Foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin confirmed the troop pact was discussed, saying both India and Afghanistan saw it as "important for stability and safety", but he denied pressure was put on Karzai to sign. -- "India's relationship with Afghanistan is based on three key elements: We don't intervene, we don't prescribe them anything and we are not judgemental," Akbaruddin told reporters. - More, NEW DELHI