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India has no plan to scale down operations in Afghanistan: Rao
Noting that recent attacks on Indians in Afghanistan is an effort to force New Delhi to get out of the country, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao today ruled out scaling down India's operations in Afghanistan.
Noting that recent attacks on Indians in Afghanistan is an effort to force New Delhi to get out of the country, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao today ruled out scaling down India's operations in Afghanistan.
"We are not scaling down our operations in Afghanistan, we are taking all necessary security measures to safeguard Indian lives there," she said in response to a question at the Widrow Wilson Center.
Terming it a "barbaric attack against Indians engaged in humanitarian and development work in Afghanistan" she said, February 26 attack was by those who do not wish any other future for Afghanistan except one that suits their sinister ambitions.
"International community should understand that such attempts, if unchecked, would only embolden the same forces that held sway in Afghanistan in the 1990s and caused the tragedy of 9/11," she said.
Arguing that there could not be a distinction between a good Taliban and a bad Taliban, she said that would be disastrous for Afghanistan.
She said there was "no quick solution" to the Af-Pak situation and "it was important for international community, in its own interest, to stay the present course for as long as it was necessary."
