Krishna hints at Laskhar link to Kabul attack

NEW DELHI - Stressing that Indians doing reconstruction in Afghanistan are soft targets for terrorists, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna has indicated that the Feb 26 attack in Kabul that killed seven Indians was the work of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, which wants to derail India-Afghanistan relations.

Denying that India was being marginalised in the emerging US strategy in Afghanistan at Pakistan’s behest, Krishna said in an interview that the US had never asked New Delhi “directly or indirectly” to reduce its presence in the violence-torn country.

“We have absolutely no evidence otherwise. I think it has been the handiwork of those forces who are out to see that the relationship between India and Afghanistan is jeopardized,” Krishna told Karan Thapar in The Devil’s Advocate programme aired on CNN-IBN Sunday night.

He was replying to a question on whether the Feb 26 attack on Indians was the work of LeT, which has never hidden its anti-India ideology.

“It is for everyone to see that the network that you find operating from the soil of Pakistan - the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the other terrorist outfits and all - they are fused both ideologically and operationally,” he said.

“They cannot come to any other conclusion other than to accept that it was the handiwork of these terrorist organizations,” Krishna said, when asked if the US has accepted that the Kabul attack was perpetrated by LeT.

Krishna stressed that Indian aid workers in Kabul have become “soft targets” for terrorists.

The minister added that there was a warning that Indian missions and volunteers on humanitarian work in the war-torn country “are going to be under attack because what India has been doing in Afghanistan is the visible symbol of what India intends to do in building up Afghanistan.

“The Indians who have gone there to Afghanistan on humanitarian purposes are unarmed. So, naturally they become easy targets, soft targets,” Krishna said.

Besides steps initiated by Kabul to protect Indians in Afghanistan, the Indian government was taking “some additional measures”, he said.

Krishna refuted reports about India being squeezed out in the emerging US strategy in Afghanistan.

“We have in our interactions with the US administration at various levels not got the impression that the US is trying to convey directly or indirectly to the Indian government that our presence in Afghanistan should be minimized. That is not my impression,” Krishna said.

“I am sure that America is appreciative of the role that India is playing in Afghanistan as much as the people of Afghanistan themselves are appreciative of the role that India is playing in Afghanistan,” he said.

“I do not think India has been squeezed out,” he said, when asked about media reports that suggested that India was being left out of the loop on Afghanistan.

“I think India is playing a stellar role in rebuilding Afghanistan which has been acknowledged by the people of Afghanistan and by the legitimate government of Afghanistan, and that is what matters.”

India has pledged $1.3 billion for reconstruction of Afghanistan. Over 3,500 Indians are engaged in an array of humanitarian projects ranging from building roads, dams and power stations to dozens of Afghan-driven grassroot development projects.