Afghanistan blames Pakistan for bomb attack outside Indian Embassy

Afghanistan's government has accused Pakistani intelligence agents of masterminding the attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, on Monday, which killed 41 people and injured 140.

In the latest escalation in a long running war of words between the two countries Humayun Hamidzada, the Afghan President’s official spokesman, told reporters in Kabul yesterday: “The sophistication of this attack, and the kind of material that was used in it and the specific targeting, everything has the hallmark of a particular intelligence agency that has conducted similar terrorist acts inside Afghanistan in the past. We have sufficient evidence to say that.”

British officers confirmed to The Times an incident last summer in which a Taliban corpse found on the battlefield in Helmand turned out to be carrying papers identifying the body as that of a serving ISI colonel.

When British officials challenged the Islamabad government on the issue, they received an explanation that the man was ’on leave’ at the time of his death.

A US Department of Defence funded study undertaken by the RAND Corporation and published last month also stated that elements of the ISI were aiding the Taleban.

“Right now, the Taleban and other groups are getting help from individuals within Pakistan’s government, and until that ends, the region’s long-term security is in jeopardy,” concluded the report’s author Seth Jones.