Indians scale down in Afghanistan

[pkd]

Indians scale down in Afghanistan


KABUL: India has suspended medical aid and teaching programmes in Afghanistan, where Indian businesses and charities are slashing staff over fears they are increasingly targeted by militants, reports AFP.
Kabul-based Indians believe they were the specific targets of three recent attacks in the Afghan capital, including a February 26 bomb and gun assault on a guesthouse that killed 17 people, among them seven Indians.

Indian charity Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), which promoted economic independence for Afghan women, said it had pulled all staff from Afghanistan.

“At the moment there is no one on behalf of SEWA in Kabul because after the 26 February disaster we were advised to come back (to India),” said SEWA's Afghanistan coordinator Pratibha Pandiya.

Indian officials said a December 15 suicide car bombing that killed eight people also targeted Indians, although former Afghan first vice president Ahmad Zia Massoud had a home in the same street.

The manager of an IT company that many Indians believe was the target, said his Indian staff had since halved to 11.

“We cannot stop people from leaving and we cannot guarantee anyone's safety,” the manager, also an Indian, said on condition of anonymity and asking that his company also not be named.

“Our office and residences are like fortresses,” he said, adding that extra security promised by the Afghan government had yet to materialise.

DAWN.COM | World | Indians scale down in Afghanistan, fearing more attacks

 

[Prometheus]

KABUL: India has suspended medical aid and teaching programmes in Afghanistan, where Indian businesses and charities are slashing staff over fears they are increasingly targeted by militants, reports AFP.
Kabul-based Indians believe they were the specific targets of three recent attacks in the Afghan capital, including a February 26 bomb and gun assault on a guesthouse that killed 17 people, among them seven Indians.

Indian charity Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), which promoted economic independence for Afghan women, said it had pulled all staff from Afghanistan.

“At the moment there is no one on behalf of SEWA in Kabul because after the 26 February disaster we were advised to come back (to India),” said SEWA's Afghanistan coordinator Pratibha Pandiya.

Indian officials said a December 15 suicide car bombing that killed eight people also targeted Indians, although former Afghan first vice president Ahmad Zia Massoud had a home in the same street.

The manager of an IT company that many Indians believe was the target, said his Indian staff had since halved to 11.

“We cannot stop people from leaving and we cannot guarantee anyone's safety,” the manager, also an Indian, said on condition of anonymity and asking that his company also not be named.

“Our office and residences are like fortresses,” he said, adding that extra security promised by the Afghan government had yet to materialise.

Indians in Kabul told AFP they see themselves as victims of a struggle with Pakistan for influence in Afghanistan, which is fuelling attacks on Indian interests in the country.

The Indian embassy was hit on October 8 last year, with the deaths of 17 people, and on July 7, 2008 when more than 60 people were killed.

The Pakistan government denies supporting militants, pointing to its own fight against the Taliban, and says it is committed to peace in Afghanistan.

Since a US-led invasion ended the Taliban's 1996-2001 regime, India has committed 1.2 billion dollars to Afghanistan, mainly aid for social services including health and education, making it one of the biggest regional donors.

The two countries are historically close and many urban Afghans speak Hindi and Urdu learned watching Bollywood movies.

About 4,000 Indians are building roads, sanitation projects and power lines in the volatile country. India is building the new Afghan parliament.

Doctors were also recruited from the Indian military for India's medical mission (IMM) to Afghanistan, which focused on five cities, providing free treatment and medicine for 30,000 Afghans each month, an embassy official said.

The IMM had been temporarily suspended, he said, as those members of the 11-man team who survived the attack were repatriated for treatment.

“The IMM in Kabul was temporarily suspended from February 26 when a doctor got killed and others seriously injured in the attack and were flown to Delhi by a special plane,” he said.

Under the IMM, 25 doctors and paramedics were based in Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabd and Mazar-I-Sharif.

The head of the Indira Ghandi Children's Hospital in Kabul, run by IMM, said sick Afghan children were the main victims of the militant attacks on Indians.

“The attack has done nothing but deprive people coming from far provinces of free treatment and medicine,” said Noorulhaq Yousufzai.

English-teaching programmes had been also suspended, the embassy official said, as two of three Indian teachers staying at the Aria guesthouse died as a result of the February 26 attack.

India brings in hundreds of Afghans on scholarships each year.

Another Indian official, also speaking anonymously, said Pakistani militants had been caught casing diplomatic residences before the February 26 attack.

“The professional manner of the planning, the fact that the Taliban did not know about it for three or four hours, that the attackers were speaking Urdu — all these things make us conclude it was Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT),” he said.

LeT was also blamed for the Mumbai attacks in late 2008, although it denied any involvement in that assault or the February Kabul bombing

DAWN.COM | World | Indians scale down in Afghanistan, fearing more attacks

 

[pkd]

India suspends aid programmes in Afghanistan, businessmen slash staff - India - The Times of India

 

[Marxist]

KABUL: India has suspended medical aid and teaching programmes in Afghanistan, where Indian businesses and charities are slashing staff over
fears they are increasingly targeted by militants.

Kabul-based Indians believe they were the specific targets of three recent attacks in the Afghan capital, including a February 26 bomb and gun assault on a guest house that killed 17 people, among them seven Indians.

Indian charity Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), which promoted economic independence for Afghan women, said it had pulled all staff from Afghanistan.

"At the moment there is no one on behalf of SEWA in Kabul because after the 26 February disaster we were advised to come back (to India)," said SEWA's Afghanistan coordinator Pratibha Pandiya.

Indian officials said a December 15 suicide car bombing that killed eight people also targeted Indians, although former Afghan first vice president Ahmad Zia Massoud had a home in the same street.

The manager of an IT company that many Indians believe was the target, said his Indian staff had since halved to 11.

"We cannot stop people from leaving and we cannot guarantee anyone's safety," the manager, also an Indian, said on condition of anonymity and asking that his company also not be named.

"Our office and residences are like fortresses," he said, adding that extra security promised by the Afghan government had yet to materialise.

Indians in Kabul said they see themselves as victims of a struggle with Pakistan for influence in Afghanistan, which is fuelling attacks on Indian interests in the country.

The Indian embassy was hit on October 8 last year, with the deaths of 17 people, and on July 7, 2008 when more than 60 people were killed.

The Pakistan government denies supporting militants, pointing to its own fight against the Taliban, and says it is committed to peace in Afghanistan.

Since a US-led invasion ended the Taliban's 1996-2001 regime, India has committed 1.2 billion dollars to Afghanistan, mainly aid for social services including health and education, making it one of the biggest regional donors.

The two countries are historically close and many urban Afghans speak Hindi and Urdu learned watching Bollywood
movies.

About 4,000 Indians are building roads, sanitation projects and power lines in the volatile country. India is building the new Afghan parliament.

Doctors were also recruited from the Indian military for India's medical mission (IMM) to Afghanistan, which focused on five cities, providing free treatment and medicine for 30,000 Afghans each month, an embassy official said.

The IMM had been temporarily suspended, he said, as those members of the 11-man team who survived the attack were repatriated for treatment.

"The IMM in Kabul was temporarily suspended from February 26 when a doctor got killed and others seriously injured in the attack and were flown to Delhi by a special plane," he said.

Under the IMM, 25 doctors and paramedics were based in Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabd and Mazar-I-Sharif.

The head of the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital in Kabul, run by IMM, said sick Afghan children were the main victims of the militant attacks on Indians.

"The attack has done nothing but deprive people coming from far provinces of free treatment and medicine," said Noorulhaq Yousufzai.

English-teaching programmes had been also suspended, the embassy official said, as two of three Indian teachers staying at the Aria guesthouse died as a result of the February 26 attack.

India brings in hundreds of Afghans on scholarships each year.

Another Indian official, also speaking anonymously, said Pakistani militants had been caught casing diplomatic residences before the February 26 attack.

"The professional manner of the planning, the fact that the Taliban did not know about it for three or four hours, that the attackers were speaking Urdu -- all these things make us conclude it was Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)," he said.

LeT was also blamed for the Mumbai attacks in late 2008, although it denied any involvement in that assault or the February Kabul bombing.

India suspends aid programmes in Afghanistan, businessmen slash staff-Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

 

[graphican]

No one will kill humanitarian workers or doctors who are curing the sick afghans. Indian fears even humanitarian workers will be taken as Indian militry agents and would get killed. These are the same Afghans who India was 'trying' to help and now the same Afghans have become militants only months after the strategic shift of militry balance. Ab do na visas un unperh Afghans ko who need them the most ab keu bolti band ho gai?

By the way on the same lines, an Indian official in Afghanistan on the condition of anonymity told me they are really fcuked and are wanting to flee as early as possible. He also asserted India is not learning the lesson which America learned after spending over a trillion dollars. He expressed his concerns that India might not have similar amount and time to learn the same lesson.

 

[ek_indian]

^^^

India never said Afghans attacked Indians. It was Afghanistan who initially said LeT did that. As visas are concerend, I guess this should be continued as there is no apparent harm in it.

Added: The second para can't be backed up with anything. Even if I agree, this is gross generalization and unnecessary flames.

 

[Justin Joseph]

Terrorist and their facilitators should not be allowed to dictate.

And innocent people suffer from it.

 

[brahmastra]

the ultimate losers will be poor Afghan people.
watch the video.

 

[Marxist]

Obama's ****** policy may be the reason for Indias current decision,I dont think its because of recent terror strikes.

 

[Justin Joseph]

Indira Gandhi childrens hospital, Kabul, Afganistan

Indira Gandhi Children's hospital located in Kabul is the leading Children's hospital of Afghanistan. It has 150 beds and in 2009 had a monthly budget of $ 1200. In 2004 it started the first Cerebral palsy center in Afghanistan. It also has an artificial limb center opened with help of Indian government which can fit up to 1000 people with Jaipur legs Indian physicians working at this hospital died in February 2010 Kabul attack by Taliban.

"The Indian citizens who died included people working on reconstruction projects and several doctors who had come to treat impoverished children at the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital, a pediatric center built by the Indian government, according to police officers at the scene."

Guesthouses Used by Foreigners in Kabul Hit in Deadly Attacks - NYTimes.com

 

[Justin Joseph]

Parents bring their children to the centre once or twice a week©ICRC/ref. AF-E-00272

First cerebral palsy centre for Afghan children opens in Kabul
The first ever centre for Afghan children with cerebral palsy was officially opened in Kabul on 17 May. Financed by the Italian Red Cross and operated under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the centre is housed in the Indira Ghandi Children's Hospital in the Wazir Akbar Khan district of the Afghan capital.

The cerebral palsy programme will initially run for two years. In addition to providing physiotherapy to its young patients, it offers counselling for families and training courses. Eight people are currently being taught the special skills needed to treat children suffering from cerebral palsy.

Close to 200 children have been registered for the programme since it was launched in January 2004, and the number is rising daily as word of the centre's existence gets around. Some parents are bringing their children for treatment from as far away as Mazar-i-Sharif and Kandahar.

Cerebral palsy is a motor disorder caused by brain damage resulting from prolonged or difficult labour, diabetes in the mother, a brain haemorrhage, or lack of oxygen during birth. Very little is known about its causes in Afghanistan.

Even more important than hospital treatment, which each child receives once or twice a week, is what the children do at home. Counselling the families is therefore is a major part of the centre’s work. "It is very important for the families to learn what they can do for their children", says Steina Olafsdottir, an Icelandic Red Cross physiotherapist who runs the programme with four Afghan colleagues. "The children spend most of their time at home, and it is important therefore that their parents do something constructive with them every day."

For Dr Rasekh, Director of the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital, the centre plays another very important role. "It fills an important gap (in services)", he remarked over tea in the balloon-bedecked centre after the ribbon–cutting ceremony, "and supplements the other types of health care at our hospital".

Dr Aziz agrees. Head of Curative Medicine "This is the first centre of its kind in Afghanistan", he commented. "No such centre has ever existed here, even before the war."

First cerebral palsy centre for Afghan children opens in Kabul

 

[Justin Joseph]

Obama's ****** policy may be the reason for Indias current decision,I dont think its because of recent terror strikes.

US presidents from Democratic Party have always been anti India.

These are popular because of big talks and media managements but always back stabbed us.

 

[Donatello]

Indira Gandhi childrens hospital, Kabul, Afganistan

Indira Gandhi Children's hospital located in Kabul is the leading Children's hospital of Afghanistan. It has 150 beds and in 2009 had a monthly budget of $ 1200. In 2004 it started the first Cerebral palsy center in Afghanistan. It also has an artificial limb center opened with help of Indian government which can fit up to 1000 people with Jaipur legs Indian physicians working at this hospital died in February 2010 Kabul attack by Taliban.

"The Indian citizens who died included people working on reconstruction projects and several doctors who had come to treat impoverished children at the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital, a pediatric center built by the Indian government, according to police officers at the scene."

Guesthouses Used by Foreigners in Kabul Hit in Deadly Attacks - NYTimes.com

Looking at the desperate call by Obama to leave Afghanistan, that shatters India's hope of any long term gains in Afghanistan. Of course they are there to 'help' the Afghans, Just like USA and NATO forces treat Afghan women and children free of cost at field hospitals while also carpet bomb them, and mistake them for insurgents in precision strikes.

Game is over, Pakistan is one big broker in Afghan end game, and no one can see India having a broader role in Afghanistan.

 

[Justin Joseph]

Looking at the desperate call by Obama to leave Afghanistan, that shatters India's hope of any long term gains in Afghanistan. Of course they are there to 'help' the Afghans, Just like USA and NATO forces treat Afghan women and children free of cost at field hospitals while also carpet bomb them, and mistake them for insurgents in precision strikes.

Game is over, Pakistan is one big broker in Afghan end game, and no one can see India having a broader role in Afghanistan.

Its not about gains for decades India have supported weak and needy nations.

Even when we were not strong or facing financial problems.

Its about humanity, peace and future of Afghanistan.


And you are absolutely wrong when you say that US/NATO do the same we don't bomb only heal.

We are working for children building schools and hospitals.

We are working for youth providing them vocational training and making them employable.

We are working for future of Afghanistan building Dams, Roads and Power Plants.

 

[karan.1970]

Looking at the desperate call by Obama to leave Afghanistan, that shatters India's hope of any long term gains in Afghanistan. Of course they are there to 'help' the Afghans, Just like USA and NATO forces treat Afghan women and children free of cost at field hospitals while also carpet bomb them, and mistake them for insurgents in precision strikes.

Game is over, Pakistan is one big broker in Afghan end game, and no one can see India having a broader role in Afghanistan.

Too soon to say this.. See the thing is that India does not lose anything if its status in Afg is reduced. On the other hand, Pakistan loses a lot if India's status is enhanced. Now this reduction or enhancement is not a one time affair. India will keep hammering at it even after US exits from Afghanistan. Failed attempts to increase its influence will only cost India in terms of Dollars. However a single successful attempt will have returns in excess of many times over in terms of strategic gains. The key here is that the govt in Afg (unlike Taliban) will not be hostile towards India and india will have enough room to manoeuver going forward. In the end game, Pakistan has lost a client state post 2001 and India has gained a potential ally. How this goes down is still too soon to know. As they say

Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost..