Click to play videoKabul: India will not scale down its presence in Afghanistan, even after the Kabul attack on February 26 in which six Indians including two Army officers were killed.
National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon said that the medical mission has only been temporarily suspended and it did not mean that there would be further scaling down of India's presence in Afghanistan.
"There is no scaling down of India's presence in Afghanistan. The medical mission has only been temporarily been suspended," said Menon, who is on a two-day visit to the war-ravaged country.
"We have a development assistance programme and a cooperation programme which is essentially an effort to work with our Afghan friends and do the things that they want us to do. That will continue. We might adjust the way in which we do it, but for certain, our commitment to that developmental programme will continue as it was," said Menon.
Menon said that India was reassured by the measures taken by Afghan government for security of Indians working in the country. The Afghanistan government would continue to investigate the attack on Indians,
India would also strengthen its own security infrastructure in the country.
"We are reassured by the measures being taken by Afghan government for the security of the Indian community as a whole not just the Embassy staff but also other Indians helping in rebuilding effort," he said.
"India will also be strengthening its own security infrastructure. Afghan government has told us they will continue to investigate the attack on Indians. Security will also be provided to Indians at Mazar-I-Sharif," he added.
The Indian medical mission at the Kabul hospital had been suspended as adequate staff was not available after the February 26 suicide attack.
Of the 11-member medical team, six doctors and five paramedics, one was killed in the attack and many others injured.
Meanwhile, the Indian government is debating opening talks with Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Afghan Taliban to ensure that it remains relevant in Afghanistan.
The advice to engage with sections of the Taliban and start a limited and regulated dialogue with the ISI has come from the Prime Minister's Office.
The government has been forced to think to rethink its Afghanistan policy because of cold, hard reality.
Indian officials acknowledge that the political and military situation has deteriorated in Afghanistan.
(With inputs from CNN-IBN Foreign Affairs Editor Surya Gangadharan)
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