New Delhi: India plans to scale down its operations in Afghanistan and will advice its citizens in that country to return home, sources in the government have told CNN-IBN.
The government is considering paring down its presence at reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. Projects underway may be wrapped up quickly and there may be even a freeze on undertaking new projects.
Apart from the embassy in Kabul, the work of consulates in Herat, Kandahar, Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad may also be scaled down.
CNN-IBN learns the precarious security situation in Afghanistan--highlighted by the terrorist attacks targeting Indians in Kabul on February 26--is prompting a gradual but significant rethink in New Delhi.
The government has been forced to think to rethink its Afghanistan policy because of the precarious security situation in that country. Indian officials acknowledge that the political and military situation has deteriorated in Afghanistan.
Taliban terrorists, who are suspected to have had the support of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence, had targeted the Indian embassy twice in the past. On July 7, 2008, 60 people, including four Indians--one IFS official and a brigadier-ranked official were killed in the attack, while on October 8 last year, four ITBP jawans were among those injured.
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