Afghan officials accuse Pakistan of Indian embassy attack

[EagleEyes]

Afghan officials accuse Pakistan of Indian embassy attack

12 hours ago

KABUL (AFP) — Afghan officials accused Pakistan Tuesday of being behind a suicide blast at the Indian embassy that left 41 people dead, saying the attack had the hallmarks of its intelligence agency.

Monday's car bomb ripped into the embassy compound in the capital, killing two Indian diplomats and two Indian guards as well as nearly three dozen Afghans. Nearly 150 people were wounded, Afghan officials said.

"We believe firmly that there is a particular intelligence agency behind it," presidential spokesman Homayun Hamidzada told reporters. He would not name the outfit but said it was "very obvious" whom he meant.

A senior government official who did not want to be identified told AFP separately: "Pakistan was behind the attack on the Indian embassy."

Hamidzada said the attack was "designed outside Afghanistan and it was exported to Afghanistan" with the help of local collaborators.

"The sophistication of this attack and the kind of materials used and the specific targeting, everything has the hallmark of a particular intelligence agency that has conducted similar terrorist acts in Afghanistan in the past," he said.

Afghanistan regularly accuses circles in Pakistan, a long-time rival of India, of supporting the Taliban and other militants waging a deadly insurgency in the war-ravaged nation. Pakistan rejects the accusation.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday denied his government was involved in the attack, saying in Kuala Lumpur that it was not in Islamabad's interests to destabilise Afghanistan.

A security report to the Afghan cabinet on Monday also accused an unidentified foreign intelligence agency of involvement in the suicide blast, hinting it referred to Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency.

"The terrorists no doubt could not have succeeded in launching such an atrocity without full support of foreign intelligence," it said, according to a summary of the cabinet meeting released to journalists.

The report also said a "big number of puppet and foreign terrorists, the enemies of peace and stability of the Afghan people, have entered the country in the past several months," according to the summary.

And in a clear reference to Pakistan, it said "evidence shows that the terrorists have been trained, equipped and financed in professional bases across the border."

The cabinet had "decided to raise the issue with Afghanistan's international anti-terrorism partners seriously," the summary said.

Kabul and Islamabad are key players in the United States' "war on terror" launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks blamed on Al-Qaeda, which the Taliban regime allowed to operate in Afghanistan.

But Afghan and Western officials allege that Islamic extremists have sanctuaries in Pakistan which helped to create the Taliban as an armed militia and was one of only three countries that recognised the hardliners' government.

Islamabad officially dropped its support for the Taliban only after the 9/11 attacks but Afghans allege it still wants the new government in Kabul to fail for its own strategic purposes.

The Taliban, who have claimed almost all of a wave of suicide attacks as part of their insurgency, again denied involvement and blamed rivalry among regional powers, including Pakistan.

"We wish we had carried out this attack ... since India has been the enemy of the Islamic Emirate," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told AFP, referring to the 1996-2001 Taliban regime.

India had assisted the Northern Alliance, an Afghan faction that fought the Taliban, and was now helping the US-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Mujahed said.

"They send secret military experts to Afghanistan and they train the Afghan army," he said. "Had we carried out the attack, we would have claimed responsibility for it with pride since we have good reasons for it."

AFP: Afghan officials accuse Pakistan of Indian embassy attack

 

[Flintlock]

Well, there you go. The Taliban are denying their involvement. So who's left?

 

[Vinod2070]

NEW DELHI: The mastermind behind the suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul on Monday may not be immediately known, but it had been the favourite target of the Taliban before they entered the war-torn city on September 26, 1996, till they were driven out by the US-led coalition in November 2001.

So intense were the rocket attacks on the embassy at a time when Taliban were inching closer to Kabul waging bloody fights against the Northern Alliance forces led by legendary leader Masood, that officials had decided to construct a heavily fortified bunker right inside the embassy premises.

So specific was the targeting of the Indian embassy that the officials used to leave their cars and other vehicles parked inside the Indonesian embassy, which is next to the Indian embassy, to keep them safe from the Taliban rockets.

The bunker, which was constructed after a BSF jawan on deputation was killed in one such rocket attack, had three small rooms with an attached kitchen and provided enough room for officials to dive in everytime there was a blast nearby.

But before the officials actually got used to a life in the bunker, the Indian government decided to close the embassy in September 1996 as the Afghan government was in no position to guarantee the security of the staff and building. The embassy closed on September 26, 1996, barely 12 hours before Taliban entered Kabul.

When this correspondent visited the embassy premises in December 2001, it still bore telltale signs of rocket attacks and the vandalism at the hands of the Taliban during the five-year reign, which ended in November 2001 through the
'war against terror' by US-led forces.

After then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh reopened the embassy on December 22, 2001, the day Hamid Karzai was sworn in as interim president of Afghanistan, the bunker was dismantled with a plan to fill the pit and make a landscaped garden over it.

Embassy was always in Taliban crosshairs-India-The Times of India

Taliban has a history of attacking the Indian embassy. So no prizes for guessing the perpetrators of this ghastly and cowardly act.

 

[roadrunner]

Well, there you go. The Taliban are denying their involvement. So who's left?

Who indeed. ISI is so powerful, yet doesn't have the brains to vary it's explosive patterns to avoid detection. Powerful indeed.

I would say it would be the NA most likely. Don't they have the most influence in Kabul anyway?

 

[Vinod2070]

NEW DELHI: Why is India a persistent target for the Taliban in Afghanistan? India is one of the largest donors of reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, and has regained a substantive part of the strategic foothold it lost in the country when Pakistan-backed Taliban took over.

It is also one of the strongest supporters of the Karzai government, which has no takers in Afghanistan’s other neighbour - Pakistan. In fact, India’s influence is now spread across the spectrum in Afghanistan, which is not music to Pakistani ears.

India's presence in Afghanistan is mainly to strengthen and stabilise the country with its varied development and reconstruction projects.

This directly comes up against Pakistan's own interests in Afghanistan, which is to keep it on the boil so that Islamabad can use its Taliban surrogate to re-install its presence there. Pakistan, therefore, has strong motive to target Indian interests in Afghanistan.

In fact, there is almost unanimity in the conclusion that it was ISI's Taliban groups who were behind Monday's attack, despite nobody claiming responsibility for the blast.

The Afghanistan interior minister was clear in saying the attack was carried out "in coordination and consultation with an active intelligence service in the region".

No prizes for guessing there. India's $750 million presence in Afghanistan is the surest obstacle for Pakistan to regain what it calls its "strategic depth" against India. The Taliban - which has regained in strength and lethality in the past couple of years, largely under the direct control of Pakistan - has, therefore, increased its attacks on Indian interests in Afghanistan with growing frequency.

Ahmed Rashid writes in his latest book, "India's success in Afghanistan stirred up a hornet's nest in Islamabad which came to believe that India was 'taking over Afghanistan'."

As the Taliban come under pressure from NATO and the US, it's becoming clear that its easiest targets in the region will be India.

Analysts, however, say India will be Pakistan-backed Taliban's favourite target because this is another face of Pakistan's tried and tested proxy politics by terrorism that it practises against India.

It's therefore no coincidence that the Indian defence attache, Brig R D Mehta, was targeted in Monday's attack. The implication is clear: Pakistan and Taliban want India out of Afghanistan.

Security analyst Ajai Sahni of the Institute of Conflict Management said, "The ISI-backed Taliban will not allow any Indian consolidation in Afghanistan, nor will they allow any stability in Kabul." A stable Afghanistan fuels thoughts of a Pashtunistan in Pakistan which is Islamabad's recurring nightmare. Just last month, Karzai stoked those fires, saying Afghanistan wanted to "rescue" the Pashtuns in Pakistan.

Pakistan continues to believe India is behind this.

Meanwhile, terrorism analyst B Raman told TOI: "The vehicle-borne suicide bombing that we saw today has been used to devastating effect by the al-Qaida in Iraq."

The Al-Qaida remnants, who have returned to Afghanistan, have transmitted the technique to the Afghan Taliban. It is far more effective as a bombing device than an explosives-strapped person." This, he said, shows clearly the growing involvement of Al-Qaida against India.

But India needs to stay in Afghanistan, because Afghanistan's stability is in India's national interest. For if Pakistan is allowed to have full sway of Afghanistan, India's security will be severely threatened - Taliban and Pakistan's other pet terror groups might find it hard to travel to the US, but India is the easiest target in the region and remains Pakistan's pet hate.

Therefore, analysts said India urgently needs to take two steps. These are: intensifying its own security in Afghanistan - all Indian projects and interests need to be protected much better; and, improving security cooperation with the US.

For instance, the Indian embassy in Kabul was armed itself with hesco barriers only last week, after a heightened threat perception. It should have been done years ago, because India's vulnerability is not new. Indian personnel on the frontlines need much better protection. Raman said, "A vulnerability assessment of all Indian missions and offices is urgently called for."

India cannot walk away from Afghanistan because India's and the region's security depends on it. But India can do a much better job of protecting itself in Afghanistan.

Pak, Taliban want India out of Afghanistan-India-The Times of India

 

[Flintlock]

Who indeed. ISI is so powerful, yet doesn't have the brains to vary it's explosive patterns to avoid detection. Powerful indeed.

I would say it would be the NA most likely. Don't they have the most influence in Kabul anyway?

Why would NA attack its own ally?

 

[roadrunner]

Why would NA attack its own ally?

False flag ops are very common. India and the Northern Alliance have a common enemy..Pakistan. Why wouldn't that make sense to get some extra US sympathy? Even you have to admit, that as soon as the bombs went off, NA officials were already saying it was Pakistan.

 

[Flintlock]

False flag ops are very common. India and the Northern Alliance have a common enemy..Pakistan. Why wouldn't that make sense to get some extra US sympathy? Even you have to admit, that as soon as the bombs went off, NA officials were already saying it was Pakistan.

Sure, anything is possible. But you seriously think the Indians would sacrifice its own military attache to Afghanistan for a false flag op?

The most likely scenario is that people who are unhappy with the Indian presence in Afghanistan carried it out, which leaves us with Taliban and Pakistan.
Since the Taliban denies their involvement, its either Pakistan or some third element who we do not know of.

Occam's razor. If you have an outlandish theory, you need the supporting evidence. Otherwise, the most likely explanation is the simplest one.

You just said that "false flag ops are very common". Please, do name some recent false flag operations which have been proved beyond doubt.

 

[roadrunner]

Sure, anything is possible. But you seriously think the Indians would sacrifice its own military attache to Afghanistan for a false flag op?

The most likely scenario is that people who are unhappy with the Indian presence in Afghanistan carried it out, which leaves us with Taliban and Pakistan.
Since the Taliban denies their involvement, its either Pakistan or some third element who we do not know of.

Occam's razor. If you have an outlandish theory, you need the supporting evidence. Otherwise, the most likely explanation is the simplest one.

You just said that "false flag ops are very common". Please, do name some recent false flag operations which have been proved beyond doubt.

Oh really Why would anyone think that one puny attack and 4 dead Indians is going to scare off the Indian presence in Afghanistan? I would agree that if 4,000 Indians had been killed, this would be to Pakistan's benefit, as the Indians would run off pretty quickly. But 4? Anybody would know it's not going to do anything.

And who knows, perhaps the attache was not liked in Indian circles, so they sent him to Afghanistan? Why send anybody you value to Afghanistan?

I still think the people to benefit from this most would be NA and India.

 

[Flintlock]

Oh really Why would anyone think that one puny attack and 4 dead Indians is going to scare off the Indian presence in Afghanistan? I would agree that if 4,000 Indians had been killed, this would be to Pakistan's benefit, as the Indians would run off pretty quickly. But 4? Anybody would know it's not going to do anything.

And who knows, perhaps the attache was not liked in Indian circles, so they sent him to Afghanistan? Why send anybody you value to Afghanistan?

I still think the people to benefit from this most would be NA and India.

By your logic, any bomb attack that kills only a few people is worthless. i.e. most of the blasts in Pakistan and India and Iraq are false flag operations.

As I said, your outlandish theories need a corroborative amount of evidence, otherwise they end up being fantasies.

Until you get that evidence, better stick to the stuff that's easy to prove.

 

[roadrunner]

By your logic, any bomb attack that kills only a few people is worthless. i.e. most of the blasts in Pakistan and India and Iraq are false flag operations.

As I said, your outlandish theories need a corroborative amount of evidence, otherwise they end up being fantasies.

Until you get that evidence, better stick to the stuff that's easy to prove.

The bomb blasts in Pakistan were not political..none of them targeted the Afghan embassy in Islamabad for example. That would have been false flag.

However the one in Kabul did target the Indian embassy, so it was a political bombing.

Had the Pakistani bombers in Islamabad targeted the Afghan Embassy, I might have said that it was probably Pakistan doing false flags..but they didn't.

 

[Contrarian]

The one thing im sure that it would do is that the GoI will now have the sufficient political support to send more paramilitary to Afghanistan.

It was wrong to attack, India has been involved strictly only in the reconstruction projects, they have not provided offensive weapons or so. The aid related to arms has been limited to training their police forces and trucks to ferry them around. All the rest has been infrastructure-roads,hospitals, etc.

 

[roadrunner]

The one thing im sure that it would do is that the GoI will now have the sufficient political support to send more paramilitary to Afghanistan.

That's convenient.

What a stroke of luck the bombers were stupid enough to target the Indian Embassy so that Indians can have greater influence.

 

[Vinod2070]

Oh really Why would anyone think that one puny attack and 4 dead Indians is going to scare off the Indian presence in Afghanistan? I would agree that if 4,000 Indians had been killed, this would be to Pakistan's benefit, as the Indians would run off pretty quickly. But 4? Anybody would know it's not going to do anything.

And who knows, perhaps the attache was not liked in Indian circles, so they sent him to Afghanistan? Why send anybody you value to Afghanistan?

I still think the people to benefit from this most would be NA and India.

Taliban and their backers don't have the capability to do what you mention here. They will be crushed much before that.

Anyway Taliban's days are numbered. They will be history soon and an eminently forgettable one.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Stealth:

I would argue that the fact that it would be obvious that Pakistan would get blamed for any attack on Indian assets, given that the GoA has taken a leaf from the GoI's book and pretends that absolutely no criminal or insurgent activity is homegrown, would pretty much rule out any such operation by Pakistan.

As RR said, what does Pakistan gain from this? The statement trotted out by the GoA and some commentators of "wishing to damage Indo-Afghan relations" is biggest load of crock I have heard. Anyone familiar with the dynamics of Indian involvement in Afghanistan and its relationship with the GoA realizes that is not going to happen with one attack on the Indian embassy.

And how on earth does one damage an Indian relationship with Afghans by targeting Indian assets? The relationship that is being damaged here is the Pakistani-Afghan one, as the GoA goes into overdrive to point the finger at Pakistan, and stir up resentment against it.

So the "obvious" explanation, in terms of who gains the most, in fact points at India or the NA.