M A I N   N E W S

Foreign Secretary flies to Kabul, reviews Herat mission security
Ashok Tuteja
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 30
Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh today air-dashed to Afghanistan to review the security arrangements at the Indian Consulate in Herat which was attacked by terrorists last week.

According to official sources, she took stock of the situation arising from the attack and held extensive discussions in this regard with Indian Ambassador Amar Sinha and other senior officials. The top Indian diplomat also met the ITBP personnel who, along with Afghan security forces, repulsed the attack. The consulate staff escaped unharmed in the attack while all four terrorists were killed.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was in New Delhi earlier this week for the swearing-in ceremony of the Modi government, is believed to have informed India that the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was behind the attack.

India has decided to further beef up the security at the Indian Embassy in Kabul as well the consulates at Herat, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif and Kandahar. New Delhi’s apprehension is that such attacks on Indian assets are only going to increase in the run-up to the withdrawal by foreign forces from Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has assured India that security would be strengthened around Indian assets or the projects in which Indians are engaged in in the war-ravaged nation. There are fears in New Delhi that after the drawdown by NATO troops, Pakistan could attempt to install a puppet Taliban government in Afghanistan.