Indians not the target in Kabul:Holbrooke

[pkd]

Holbrooke says Kabul attack did not target Indians
WASHINGTON, March 3 (APP): U.S. Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said Tuesday last week’s terrorist attack in Kabul did not target Indians specifically and cautioned againt jumping to conclusions without any solid proof. “In regard to this attack, I don’t accept the fact that this was an attack on an Indian facility like the embassy. They were foreigners, non-Indian foreigners hurt. It was a soft target,” he told reporters at a Sate Department briefing.

“And let’s not jump to conclusions. I understand why everyone in Pakistan and everyone in India always focuses on the other. But please, let’s not draw a conclusion which for which there’s no proof,” Holbrooke stated, responding to a question which suggested that Indians based in Kabul were being targeted.
Holbrooke’s remarks came after an Afghan official in Kabul alleged a Pakistan-based militant group’s link to the incident but did not provide any substantial evidence.
Speaking about the Obama Administration’s policy toward the South Asian region, the diplomat said Washington has good relations with both Islamabad and New Delhi.
“It is our view that it is in our national interest to improve relations with both countries (Pakistan and India), neither – not at the expense of the other. It is not improved relations with one country is not at the expense of the other; on the contrary. We, by improving relations in both countries, we can move forward a general search for peace and stability in the region.”
“This policy really began in the year 2000 when President Clinton went to both countries, the first president to visit either country in 22 years since Jimmy Carter had gone in 1978. And since then, President Bush has done the same thing. And we will – this is the overriding approach we have to the issue. And that’s our starting point for the strategic overview of the region,” added the diplomat, who visited a number of key South and Central Asian countries over the past several days.
He said President Obama has said “we encourage any sort of dialogue between the two countries, and Afghanistan is not the core of the issue, but it is a part of the issue.”
Apart from security issues, water is a critical matter between the two South Asian countries.
“Water is a huge issue here, and increasingly on our trips, people in both countries talk about water – and overall security relationships.”
Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - Holbrooke says Kabul attack did not target Indians

 

[Choppers]

India upset with Holbrooke view on Kabul attack

SIDDHARTH VARADARAJAN

Indian officials have described as “absolutely incorrect” the statement by Washington's AfPak envoy, Richard Holbrooke, that India was not the target of last week's terrorist attack in Kabul.

The officials expressed surprise and even consternation at this assertion, which, they said, ignored the fact that the terrorists' primary target was a building used by the Indian medical mission. The U.S. assessment, they said, also ran counter to what Afghanistan's intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, has established so far.

On Tuesday, NSD spokesman Saeed Ansari told AP in Kabul that there was evidence Urdu-speaking Pakistanis from the Lashkar-e-Taiba had been involved in the attack and not the Afghan Taliban.

According to Indian officials, the NSD has established that the terrorists were indeed looking for Indians and had specific information about who was present, including NGO women from SEWA and a senior diplomat on secondment to the Afghan Interior Ministry.

For now, officials here are guarded about which Pakistan-based terrorist outfit might be involved. “Groups like the Haqqani network, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and LeT are all mixed up with one another,” an Indian official said on condition of anonymity. “What we know at present is only circumstantial but [things] should be clearer in a while,” said another official, adding, such are “the glorious uncertainties of barbarism.”

Speaking to reporters in Washington on Wednesday, Mr. Holbrooke said: “I don't accept the fact that this was an attack on an Indian facility… There were foreigners, non-Indian foreigners hurt. It was a soft target. Let's not jump to conclusions.” He added: “I understand why everyone in Pakistan and everyone in India always focuses on the other. But please, let's not draw a conclusion for which there's no proof.”

New Delhi, however, believes there is no room for doubt. “A huge bomb is detonated just outside the Indian medical mission. A terrorist walks in lobbying grenades and firing from room to room. He had prior knowledge about the occupants… If this is not an attack targeted on Indians, what can it be?” said a senior official.

Indian officials also said the Afghans would not make an allegation of Pakistani involvement loosely. “From their point of view, this is a risky statement to make since their government is making overtures to Pakistan,” said an official. “So for their intel people to say the LeT was involved and that it has close ties with the ISI — obviously they are taking a huge risk and must have very good information.”

Afghan investigators have noted that last week's terrorist attack was very different from the January 18 Taliban strike at the Faroshga mall in central Kabul. The gunmen had allowed Afghan shoppers to leave before training their fire on the security forces and destroying the building. In contrast, the Afghans guarding the Indian medical mission were the first to be shot dead by the terrorist who entered the compound following the huge explosion triggered outside. “The guards shouted ‘Don't kill us, we're Afghans' but they were shot all the same,” an Indian official said.

The Hindu : News / National : India upset with Holbrooke view on Kabul attack

 

[ice_man]

“The guards shouted ‘Don't kill us, we're Afghans' but they were shot all the same,” an Indian official said.

great the indians managed to put in the typical INDIAN MOVIE STORY LINE DIRECT FROM BOLLYWOOD!!!

 

[ek_indian]

washingtonpost.com

Afghan intelligence ties Pakistani group Lashkar-i-Taiba to recent Kabul attack

KABUL -- An Afghan intelligence official said Tuesday that the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-i-Taiba orchestrated the deadly attack that targeted two guesthouses in the capital last week.

The assessment, if true, could signal a departure for the group, which has long focused on fighting India over the disputed region of Kashmir. India blames the militant organization for the siege that killed 165 people in Mumbai in November 2008.

Afghan intelligence spokesman Sayed Ansari said investigators had concluded that Lashkar was involved in the recent attack based on evidence that it was carried out by a team of suicide bombers who spoke Urdu, a Pakistani language, and who were searching for Indian victims. The Afghan Taliban had previously asserted responsibility for the assault, which left 16 people dead, within hours of its start.

The claim by Afghan intelligence could not be verified Tuesday, and it contradicts the conclusions of other observers. A U.S. military intelligence official told reporters Monday that he believed the Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based Afghan militant group, was behind the attack. Indian officials have said they suspect that the two groups worked in concert to stage the raid.

Still, the involvement of Lashkar-i-Taiba would have significant implications. It could undermine fragile peace efforts between longtime foes Pakistan and India, whose foreign secretaries met last week. India had previously implicated Pakistan in the 2008 bombing of India's embassy in Kabul, saying Pakistani intelligence had collaborated with militants.

Maj. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the top U.S. military intelligence official in Afghanistan, said Monday that a growing number of the group's fighters are streaming into that country's south for combat experience.

"They are aligning with the Taliban," said Mohammad Saad, a retired Pakistani brigadier and security analyst.

Saad said that several members of the group are training with associates of the Haqqani network in North Waziristan, a Pakistani tribal region bordering Afghanistan, but that language challenges have forced most of them to work alongside Afghan fighters inside Afghanistan.

That also points to increased mixing of militant groups in the volatile Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, where U.S. troops and intelligence are seeking to blunt Taliban and al-Qaeda control. Analysts say insurgencies that are commonly described as distinct are actually a complex stew of overlapping and shifting alliances.

That was underscored Tuesday as the Pakistani Taliban, an offshoot of the Afghan insurgency, confirmed in a statement that the chief of yet another Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, had been killed by a U.S. drone strike Feb. 24. The commander, Qari Zafar, was wanted by U.S. and Pakistani officials in connection with a 2006 bombing of the U.S. Consulate in Karachi.

Zafar's group originated in Pakistan's heartland, but he was killed in North Waziristan, the base of the Haqqani network. The network, led by Siraj Haqqani, is among the most lethal battling U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, and it has been implicated in several brazen attacks in Kabul.

Ansari, the intelligence spokesman, said Afghan officials "very close to the evidence" had determined that one of the bombers involved in Friday's Kabul attack yelled, "Where is the Indian director?" as he stormed one of guesthouses. Others had also sought out Indians, Ansari said.

"This kind of information, where the Indians are, is not the ability of the Afghan Taliban to know," Ansari said.

The Taliban, in its assertion of responsibility, said it was targeting foreigners. Six Indian nationals, including two army doctors and an engineer, were among those killed in the attack, as were eight Afghans, an Italian diplomat and a French filmmaker.

 

[ice_man]

washingtonpost.com

Afghan intelligence ties Pakistani group Lashkar-i-Taiba to recent Kabul attack

WOOOW this was going to come obviously! after all the PUPPET GOVERNMENT in AFGHANISTAN is set up by indian ,israel & US!

just like how it was in the soviet era when a PRO SOVIET government was in power even then the afghan government hurled curses & slogans and everything at PAKISTAN!

 

[ek_indian]

@ice+man:

This was not directed towards Pakistan but a Pakistani based group. Hope you see the difference.

 

[ice_man]

@ice+man:

This was not directed towards Pakistan but a Pakistani based group. Hope you see the difference.

“So for their intel people to say the LeT was involved and that it has close ties with the ISI — obviously they are taking a huge risk and must have very good information.”

e-indian does that answer your question where it is heading and what it is implying!!!

indians love to scare themselves to death! by blaming everything on pakistan!!!

 

[ek_indian]

Militant group Lashkar denies Kabul attacks - Yahoo! News

Militant group Lashkar denies Kabul attacks

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) – Pakistan-based Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba denied Thursday it was behind a coordinated attack in Kabul last week that killed 16 people, including seven Indians.

The group, blamed by India for the siege in Mumbai in November 2008 that left 166 people dead, said it was not active in Afghanistan, in a call to AFP's office in Srinigar, summer capital of Indian Kashmir.

"We are not involved in any actions in Afghanistan. We have no network in Afghanistan," a spokesman who gave his name as Abdullah Gaznavi said from an undisclosed location.

"We reject claims that we are involved in any actions in Afghanistan."

Suicide bombers targeted guesthouses in central Kabul last Friday, killing 16 people in one of the deadliest attacks on foreigners in the Afghan capital.

India's Foreign Minister S.M Krishna said last week the attack was the third on "Indian officials and interests in Afghanistan in the past 20 months" and strongly condemned it.

However, the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said Wednesday that India was not the target of the attacks, noting that other foreigners also died.

He warned against a "jump to conclusions" without substantial proof.

A senior Indian government official said however it was clear that Indians had been targeted.

"To say Indians were not targeted is not borne out by the facts," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity. "These places (the guest houses attacked) house Indian visitors."

India has been heavily involved in reconstruction and aid efforts in Afghanistan, extending more than one billion dollars in help since the fall of the Taliban regime in November 2001.

New Delhi suspects Pakistan of funding anti-India militants and has consistently called on Pakistan to crack down on Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

Analysts say India and Pakistan are locked in a struggle for influence in Afghanistan, which is fuelling attacks on Indian interests there.

India pointed the finger at Pakistan for blasts at its embassy in Kabul in 2008 and 2009, but has so far refrained from blaming its neighbour for Friday's attacks.

 

[pkd]

Lashkar-i-Taiba denies Kabul attacks

SRINAGAR: Militant group Lashkar-i-Taiba denied Thursday it was behind a coordinated attack in Kabul last week that killed 16 people, including seven Indians.

The group, blamed by India for the siege in Mumbai in November 2008 that left 166 people dead, said it was not active in Afghanistan, in a call to AFP's office in Srinagar.

“We are not involved in any actions in Afghanistan. We have no network in Afghanistan,” a spokesman who gave his name as Abdullah Ghaznavi said from an undisclosed location.

“We reject claims that we are involved in any actions in Afghanistan.”

Suicide bombers targeted guesthouses in central Kabul last Friday, killing 16 people in one of the deadliest attacks on foreigners in the Afghan capital.

India's Foreign Minister S M Krishna said last week the attack was the third on “Indian officials and interests in Afghanistan in the past 20 months” and strongly condemned it.

However, the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke said Wednesday that India was not the target of the attacks, noting that other foreigners also died.

He warned against a “jump to conclusions” without substantial proof.

.
DAWN.COM | World | Lashkar-i-Taiba denies Kabul attacks

 

[pak-yes]

lol hey what is happening to Indian Diplomacy in Afghanistan and the billions Indians have putted in for the DEVELOPMENT of Afghanistan.lol

 

[BlackSonic]

Holbrooke 'regrets' Kabul remark

US Special Envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, has said that his comments on Kabul attack were misunderstood.

"I regret any misunderstanding caused by my comments on the recent terrorist attack in Kabul, which claimed the lives of 7 Indians and at least ten citizens of other nations," he said.

Holbrooke added: "I did not say Indians were not targeted. Initially, it looked like target wasn't an Indian facility. Early reports on events like this are often unreliable, and I try not to jump to conclusions. We all know that Indian citizens have and continue to be targeted by terrorists, including inside Afghanistan. The willingness of India to take risks and make sacrifices to help Afghanistan is testament to India's commitment global peace and prosperity and a vital part of the international commitment to Afghanistan's future."

My heart goes out to the families of all of the victims, he said. (Read full statement)

Holbrooke's comments come days after he had said that he does not agree that the recent terror strike in Kabul specifically targeted Indians, a view that took India by surprise.

Holbrooke had also cautioned against jumping to conclusions notwithstanding the statement of even Afghan President Hamid Karzai soon after the February 26 terror strike on a Kabul hotel that it was an attack on Indians.

"In regard to this attack, I don't accept the fact that this was an attack on an Indian facility like the (Indian) embassy. They were foreigners, non-Indian foreigners hurt. It was a soft target. Let's not jump to conclusions," Holbrooke had told reporters in Washington responding to questions on the attack in which six Indians were among the 16 persons killed.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/world/holbrooke-regrets-kabul-remarks-17223.php

I regret any misunderstanding caused by my comments on the recent terrorist attack in Kabul, which claimed the lives of 6 Indians and at least ten citizens of other nations. I did not say Indians were not targeted, but that initially it looked like the target was not an official Indian facility. Early reports on events like this are often unreliable, and I try not to jump to conclusions. We all know that Indian citizens have and continue to be targeted by terrorists, including inside Afghanistan. My heart goes out to the families of all of the victims.

The Afghan people and international community deeply appreciate the very substantial humanitarian and reconstruction assistance that India provides Afghanistan. The willingness of India to take risks and make sacrifices to help Afghanistan is testament to India's commitment global peace and prosperity and a vital part of the international commitment to Afghanistan's future.

Holbrooke 'regrets' Kabul remark: Full statement

 

[ek_indian]

lol hey what is happening to Indian Diplomacy in Afghanistan and the billions Indians have putted in for the DEVELOPMENT of Afghanistan.lol

I hope you got the answer by now what heppened to Indian diplomacy....(refer post 11)

That was a Indian medical mission where attacks happened. However some people are just too much full of hatred that they always believe conspiracy theory.

BTW, Indian did not say much yet. The LeT was raised by Afghan officials. But as always, they are Indian agents.

 

[rajgoynar]

WOOOW this was going to come obviously! after all the PUPPET GOVERNMENT in AFGHANISTAN is set up by indian ,israel & US!

just like how it was in the soviet era when a PRO SOVIET government was in power even then the afghan government hurled curses & slogans and everything at PAKISTAN!

what about your government , your government is also PUPPET of US.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

hmmm pupet ...

 

[rajgoynar]

hmmm pupet ...

nice thinking about your country