Kabul : India’s ambassador to Afghanistan Manpreet Vohra was at the Kabul Process meeting in Kabul this morning, which aims at getting the peace process back on track in Afghanistan, when a rocket landed on the tennis courts inside his residence, India House, at 10:25 am.
The residence is located deep inside a very high-security zone in Kabul.
In an exclusive conversation with the Indian Express, Ambassador Vohra said, “A rocket landed in the India House compound at 10:25 am. There were no casualties. Investigations are ongoing.”
He added: “India has dealt with terror and will never be cowed down by it.”
The tennis courts are cheek-by-jowl with India House, a graceful and stately home that has been witness to changes and upheaval in Afghanistan over the decades.
The Ambassador returned to the Kabul Process meeting at the “Arg”, or the presidential palace, soon after. Indian officials in Kabul said he was determined to send the message that India would play her full part in bringing peace to Afghanistan no matter that some other political forces had other ideas.
The attack on the Indian ambassador’s residence comes less than a week after a truck blew up at the entrance to the Green Zone – inside which the Indian embassy as well as India House is located.
Afghan president Ashraf Ghani said at the Kabul Process meetings this morning that as many as 150 people had died in that horrendous attack.
Ghani, who inaugurated the meeting, in which 23 countries are participating, said Afghanistan was in the frontline of terrorism worldwide.
“What will it take to convince Pakistan that a stable Pakistan helps them and helps our region,” an anguished Afghan president said, accusing his neighbor of actively destabilizing the region and Afghanistan.
Afghan intelligence sources have since been reporting that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, actively supplied explosive to the Haqqani Network to carry out the Kabul truck blast.
“Pakistan is the key planner of this incident like in the past, but our security team is investigating the incident and these investigations have not been completed,” said Afghanistan’s ministry of interior spokesman Najib Danish.
Bureau Report
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