Govt orders maximum security for Missions in Afghanistan

The Government has ordered “maximum security” for Indian Missions and other assets in Afghanistan in the wake of a heightened threat from Taliban and other Pakistan-based terror groups that it might carry out a wave of attacks, including car bomb blasts.

The directive to Indo Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) to beef up security came after intelligence inputs suggesting that apart from the embassy in Kabul, consulates in Kandahar, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat, besides development and reconstruction projects being carried out by Indians could be targeted by Taliban or other terrorist groups based in Pakistan.

“The ITBP, which has been guarding Indian assets in Afghanistan, has been alerted twice in the past few weeks and asked to heighten security,” a government official said.

The intelligence inputs suggested that terrorists could launch a wave of attacks, involving explosion of car-bomb followed by assault by gunmen, the officials said.

The Taliban launched a major attack in the centre of Kabul on Tuesday, hitting NATO’s coalition force headquarters next to the US embassy in the Afghan capital.

Nearly 200 ITBP personnel, who guard the embassy that has already been targeted twice since 2008, and Indian nationals working on developmental projects have been alerted about the possibility of the attacks.

The government has ordered “maximum security” for all of them, the official said.

New Delhi has also requested Kabul to deploy adequate Afghan security personnel in the Indian missions as well as other assets.