Pakistan is not behind the suicide car-bombing that targeted the
Indian embassy in Kabul on Monday, killing 41 people, including two
senior Indian diplomats, Yousaf Raza Gillani, the country's prime
minister, has said.
The Afghan interior ministry said it thought the blast was carried out
"with co-ordination and advice from regional intelligence circles".
Speaking to Reuters news agency on the sidelines of an Islamic summit
in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday, Gillani rejected the
claim.
"We need a stable Afghanistan," he said.
"Certainly, why should Pakistan destabilise Afghanistan? It is in our
interest, a stable Afghanistan. We want stability in the region."
Up to 141 people were wounded in addition to the deaths in the embassy
bombing, according to government officials.
Security re****t
The bombing received sup****t from foreign intelligence agencies,
Afghanistan said in a security re****t released on Tuesday.
It said terrorists had entered the country after receiving training
and logistical sup****t from across the border, a reference to
Pakistan.
"Without any doubt the terrorists could not have succeeded in this act
without the sup****t of foreign intelligence agencies," the re****t
said.
Meanwhile, the bodies of the dead diplomats have been flown to New
Delhi for cremation.
Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian foreign minister, announced on Monday
that an Indian military attache and a diplomat were among those
killed, and identified them as Brigadier R Mehta and V Venkat Rao.
Mukherjee said two Indian security guards and an Afghan national who
worked at the embassy were also killed.
"Such acts of terror will not deter us from fulfilling our commitments
to the government and people of Afghanistan," he said.
Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, the Afghan foreign minister, visited the
embassy soon after the attack to show sup****t, Sultan Ahmad Baheen,
his spokesman, said.
"The enemies of Afghanistan and India's relation****p cannot hamper our
relation****p by conducting such attacks," Baheen said.
India has provided significant sup****t to Afghanistan's efforts to
restore order after the removal of the Taliban, which seized power in
1996 until they were pushed out.
Ahmed Ra****d, a Pakistani author and expert on the Taliban, told Al
Jazeera that the Afghan government is implicitly linking Pakistan to
the attack.
"Pakistan, like many previous attacks, is blamed," he said.
"This is a worsening regional situation, particularly now that foreign
embassies, like India, which has no troops in Afghanistan, are also
being targeted."
Taliban denial
The Taliban has carried out a wave of suicide attacks across the
country in the past seven years, but said it did not carry out the
embassy attack.
Zabihullah Mujahed, a group spokesman, told the AFP news agency that
the Taliban would have been proud to claim responsibility for the
attack but they had not been involved.
"We wish we had carried out this attack ... since India has been the
enemy of the Islamic emirate," he said.
"They send secret military experts to Afghanistan and they train
(the) Afghan army.
"Had we carried out the attack, we would have claimed responsibility
for it with pride since we have good reasons for it."
Mujahed said America, China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and other
countries around "are rivals in Afghanistan and this attack may be the
result of this rivalry".
Possible perpetrators
Retired Major-General Dipankar Banerjee, director of the Institute of
Peace and Conflict Studies, told Al Jazeera that the Taliban may not
be responsible for the attack.
"This terrorist attack is the work of those that are highly
specialised ... but I am not entirely sure if the blame can be pointed
towards the Taliban because the majority of those killed were Afghan
civilians," he said.
"Also, India has no troops stationed in the country, but over 3,000
personnel involved in development projects.
"Perhaps this is the work of those that are not happy between this
partner****p between India and Afghanistan."
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/07/20087844859467580.html
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