The operation of the Indian medical mission at Kabul was suspended temporarily as the required staff and security was not available after the attack. Of the 11-member medical team, one of the six doctors was killed in the attack and others injured. Two Major rank Army officers were also killed.
“There is no scaling back. We are in the process of resuming full-fledged operations in Afghanistan,” reports said. Though the Mazar-e-Sharif medical mission is functioning normally, the other four missions spread around the war-torn Afghanistan were temporarily suspended, the officials said. The medical missions in Kabul and Kandahar are expected to resume full-fledged operations soon.
“We are putting in extra security measures to ensure that our operations are not hampered in future,” an Indian embassy official here said.
India launched the medical missions in Afghanistan in 2001-2002 and was operating five such missions in Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif.
The mission has treated over 300,000 patients, mostly women and children so far. The patients were given free treatment as well as medicines.
During external affairs minister S M Krishna’s talks with Afghan national security advisor Rangin Dadfar Spanta here on Monday, the issue of security for Indian nationals working in the country figured prominently. Krishna sensitized the Afghan government on the Indian government’s concern over security for its nationals in Afghanistan and sought adequate security for them.
Spanta assured Krishna that the afghan government would take whatever steps it could to ensure that the “Indian guests” who have been doing impressive work in Afghanistan would be given adequate protection.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 21st, 2010.
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