Calm down guys, Its not official yet and champaign is already out. Just relax and wait for the game to unfold. Let us see what Indian media implies by scaling down and what is that the GoI will do. We are getting contradictory signals and the official stance of India is not clear.
Lets not get ahead of ourselves and speculate. India may well pack its bags and quit but you never know ...
New Delhi, March 10, 2010
India today denied reports that it was planning to scale down its presence in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the February 26 terrorist attacks in Kabul in which seven Indians and ten others were killed.
Responding to queries on the reports, which also said India was advising its citizens in the strife-torn country to return home, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs categorically dismissed them as "baseless and factually incorrect".
"India's commitment to its development partnership with Afghanistan remains diluted," the spokesperson said.
Last week, India announced it had temporarily suspended the Indian Medical Mission (IMM) in Kabul after the attack which had targeted the IMM.
At that time, too, the Government had made it clear that it would not scale down its other operations in Afghanistan despite the extremely difficult situation in the country.
The Indians killed in the suicide and car bomb attacks included a doctor in the IMM, Kabul.
The IMMs in Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazhar-e-Sharif are functioning normally.
Similarly, the Embassy of India in Kabul and its other offices in Afghanistan also continue to function normally.
National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon had visited Kabul last week to review the security for Indians and Indian facilities in Afghanistan after the latest attack. He had held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other leaders and also visited the scene of the attack - two guest houses popular with Indians and other foreigners.
India says no plan to scale down presence in Afghanistan | NetIndian | India News | Latest News from India | Breaking News from India | Latest Headlines
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hindu : Front Page : No advisory issued to Indians in Afghanistan, says Ministry
India on Wednesday asserted that its commitment to development partnership with Afghanistan remained undiluted and refuted reports that it planned to scale-down its presence in that country.
External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash dismissed reports that New Delhi was issuing an advisory to its citizens in Afghanistan to return home, saying such reports were baseless and factually incorrect.
India's commitment to its development partnership with Afghanistan remains undiluted, he said.
India was extending humanitarian and development aid worth $1.3 billion and there were about 3,500 Indians working in Afghanistan on projects, including infrastructure, education, and construction of buildings such as the Parliament building in Kabul.
Of them, almost 2,500 were in secure zones and the government had taken up the issue of security for the rest.
At the same time, it had advised those working in the private sector to alter the pattern of movement and
consider plans to train Afghan nationals in India, who in turn, train other personnel for deployment in projects there.
Medical missions
After the February 26 terror attack in Kabul, which claimed the lives of nine people, including three Army officers, India announced temporary suspension of its medical mission in the Afghanistan capital. Four others in Kandahar, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat continue to function.
India's commitment to stay the course in Afghanistan was reiterated during the visit of National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon to Kabul last weekend.
On his part, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai assured all assistance and security to Indian nationals.