Pakistan's involvement being speculated in Indian Embassy attack

New Delhi, Oct. 9 (ANI): Although the Taliban has claimed responsibility for Thursday's suicide car blast outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul that killed 17 people, Pakistan intelligence agency ISI's involvement in the attack cannot be ruled out.

In July of 2008, militants rammed the same embassy with a car bomb that killed 60 people.

Later, both US and India claimed that they had uncovered evidence that the agency was in contact with the attackers.

Experts point out that the pattern of blasts suggests Pakistan's involvement once again.

"I would suggest this is the same thing. Pakistan simply doesn't want any Indian presence in the region," the Christian Science Monitor quoted Ajai Sahni, director of the Institute of Conflict Management in New Delhi, as saying.

Asked how that could impact India-Pakistan relations, Dr. Sahni replied, "What relations? This is just a cyclical game. A new attack doesn't change anything."

However, some other analysts differ in opinion.

"Given the divide between Taliban and Pakistan in recent years, particularly since Pakistan troops are fighting Taliban forces in Pakistan, I would rather see it as the Taliban's own initiative," says Suba Chandran, assistant director of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies.

However, he seconds Sahni that if Pakistani elements were involved it would barely register diplomatically, since the relationship cannot get much worse.

Pakistani intelligence has historically used Taliban-like groups to advance its interests in Afghanistan and to put pressure on India.

But the Afghan-Taliban has its own antagonism against India, as India had supported the Northern Alliance when the Taliban controlled Kabul.

And since 2001, India has contributed more than a billion dollars in aid to Afghanistan's reconstruction. Indian contractors are building infrastructure, while Indian experts are helping train Afghanistan's military officers. (ANI)