India says no plan to scale down presence in Afghanistan

India today denied reports that it was planning to scale down its presence in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the February 26 terrorist attacks in Kabul in which seven Indians and ten others were killed.

Responding to queries on the reports, which also said India was advising its citizens in the strife-torn country to return home, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs categorically dismissed them as "baseless and factually incorrect".

"India's commitment to its development partnership with Afghanistan remains diluted," the spokesperson said.

Last week, India announced it had temporarily suspended the Indian Medical Mission (IMM) in Kabul after the attack which had targeted the IMM.

At that time, too, the Government had made it clear that it would not scale down its other operations in Afghanistan despite the extremely difficult situation in the country.

The Indians killed in the suicide and car bomb attacks included a doctor in the IMM, Kabul.

The IMMs in Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazhar-e-Sharif are functioning normally.

Similarly, the Embassy of India in Kabul and its other offices in Afghanistan also continue to function normally.

National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon had visited Kabul last week to review the security for Indians and Indian facilities in Afghanistan after the latest attack. He had held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other leaders and also visited the scene of the attack - two guest houses popular with Indians and other foreigners.

NNN