Afghan president Karzai assures security of Indian missions

karzai-terrorIn the wake of a terror attack targeting the Indian consulate in Herat, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has assured India’s Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi that his country “will do all to protect Indian missions there.”

“President Karzai & I talked about the consulate attack in Herat. He assured me he will do everything to protect India’s Missions in Afghanistan,” Modi tweeted May 27 after the Afghan president telephoned him following the terror attack. Modi also lauded the consulate staff in Herat and thanked the security forces for thwarting the terror attack.

The prime minister thanked Karzai for the “efforts of Afghan forces in thwarting (the) attack on India’s consulate in Herat,” Syed Akbaruddin, the spokesperson of India’s foreign office, said in Delhi.

Karzai is among leaders of SAARC countries who will attend the oath-taking ceremony of India’s incoming prime minister in Delhi May 26.

The attack on the Indian consulate and the safety of around 4,000 Indians in Afghanistan will top the discussions between Mr Modi and President Karzai in Delhi May 27.

Four terrorists armed with machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades had stormed the Indian consulate in Herat in the early  hours of May 23. All the staff at the Indian mission are reported to be safe. All the four gunmen have been killed, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) chief Subhas Goswami said. The ITBP personnel were guarding the Indian mission in Herat. Mr Goswami said that security at the Indian embassy in Kabul and consulates in Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif and Kandahar besides Herat has been bolstered and a high alert sounded to all Indian assets based across Afghanistan.

 

 

 

 

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