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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 002967 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/01/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PINR PBTS EAID IN PK
SUBJECT: INDIA STRENGTHENS RESOLVE IN AFGHANISTAN DESPITE 
TALIBAN BEHEADING OF ENGINEER 
 
NEW DELHI 00002967  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
¶1. (U) This is an ACTION REQUEST for SCA and PA.  Please see 
Para 8. 
 
¶2. (C) SUMMARY:  Following the Taliban's decapitation of an 
Indian mobile phone network engineer taken hostage in 
Afghanistan, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran made a 
thinly veiled reference to Pakistani support for the Taliban. 
 After the second such killing in six months, and the ensuing 
outcry in the Indian media and political opposition, official 
Indian frustration with security in Afghanistan is mounting, 
and may result in additional Indian efforts to keep their 
people safe.  While Indian resolve to help Afghanistan will 
not waver, fingers are starting to point at Pakistan. 
Saran's statement does not mean that the PM's efforts to 
forge a lasting peace with Pakistan are off track, but they 
do reveal that officials in Delhi draw a straight line from 
their murdered citizens working to rehabilitate Afghanistan 
through the Taliban and back to the Pakistani establishment. 
Saran's finger pointing answers Pakistani complaints about 
alleged (yet never proven) Indian mischief in Baluchistan, 
and reinforces the lack of trust between the two capitals 
over each other's intentions in Afghanistan.  A strong USG 
statement of condemnation (see draft in para eight) can help 
clear the air before bad vibes spiral too much.  END SUMMARY. 
 
ANOTHER INDIAN BEHEADED 
----------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Indian media devoted saturation coverage to the grisly 
murder April 30 by the Taliban of Indian mobile phone 
engineer K. Suryanarayana -- an Andhra Pradesh native -- who 
worked for a Bahraini company installing a cellular network 
in Zabul province.  The reporting was a flashback to the 
murder of an Indian driver from Kerala -- Maniappan Kutty -- 
murdered in a similar fashion in November 2005, and gave 
South Indians a particularly acute feeling of loss.  Indian 
media were particularly shocked that the Taliban executed 
Suryanarayana before their own ludicrous 24-hour deadline for 
the withdrawal of all Indians from Afghanistan had passed, 
and reported with skepticism the Taliban's explanation that 
they had killed him when he tried to escape. 
 
MEDIA CALLS FOR MORE SECURITY 
----------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) The media coverage, while full of pictures of 
hysterical relatives, did not question why India had chosen 
to support Afghanistan so extensively, nor did any 
journalists or commentators call for an Indian withdrawal. 
Even the family members did not blame the government for what 
had happened.  Instead, most press here said India had no 
choice but to stay the course, and influential newspaper 
Indian Express called in an editorial for India to mull 
taking additional steps to support Afghanistan, including 
raising force protection for its staff there and 
significantly expanding training and arming the ANA and 
police.  The goal, said the IE editorial, was to show "the 
Taliban and its supporters in Pakistan" that India remained 
determined to "raise the political costs" to those 
threatening its Afghan interests.  When asked by Poloff if 
the prevailing press line was on target, Afghan Desk Director 
Aquino Vimal said it generally reflected the GOI's thinking. 
 
NEW DELHI 00002967  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
NOTE: India's security presence in Afghanistan is currently 
limited to about 300 Indo-Tibetan Border Police helping 
protect road workers and providing site security for the 
Indian consulates.  END NOTE. 
 
INDIA POINTS THE FINGER AT PAKISTAN 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Frustrated at losing another Indian to terror so soon 
after it had promised to do more to protect official Indians 
in Afghanistan following the Kutty murder, and under the 
pressure from saturation media coverage on the eve of 
elections in the large Southern states of Kerala and Tamil 
Nadu, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran late on April 30 made a 
veiled reference to Pakistani support for the Taliban, saying 
that his government was "appalled by this inhuman act of 
terror by the Taliban and its sponsors."  The MEA timed the 
statement, which detailed at length the steps the GOI had 
taken since the Kutty murder to augment security and listed 
the actions taken once news of Suryanarayana's capture 
emerged,  to make sure it appeared in all the morning 
broadsheets and on all the morning TV news shows.  In 
addition, the MEA backgrounded that NSA Narayanan had spoken 
to Tariq Aziz about the matter.  In Q&A following the 
statement, Saran said the Taliban had been "operating in the 
areas which straddle the Pakistan-Afghanistan border" and 
that the Taliban had committed acts of terrorism within 
Pakistan itself which demanded concerted efforts by the 
international community, including India and Pakistan. 
 
WHILE BJP PUTS THE UPA ON THE DEFENSIVE 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. Sensing political blood in the water, BJP opposition 
leader LK Advani issued a May 1 statement from his "Indian 
Security Pilgrimage" campaign trail complaining that India 
was "paying a heavy price due to the UPA government's lack of 
direction, coherence, and even a full-time minister in the 
vital area of foreign policy."  Amplifying his party's 
concerns about what it calls "minorityism" and Congress' 
reliance on Muslim votes, Advani said, "The developments in 
Afghanistan are another instance of the UPA government's lack 
of comprehension of national interests in managing India's 
neighborhood policy...it's kid-glove approach to Jehadi 
terrorist' penetration in India -- both from Pakistan and 
Bangladesh -- testifies to the Congress party's vote bank 
politics." 
 
WHAT'S THE UPSHOT? 
------------------ 
 
¶7. (C) COMMENT:  India's official establishment is not about 
to cut and run from Afghanistan.  India has compelling 
national security goals there, and there is general consensus 
to stick it out.  With broad public support, India may 
contemplate increasing its force protection, and is already 
mulling an ANA request for non-lethal assistance.  By poking 
Pakistan in the eye over the latest murder, Foreign Secretary 
Saran is putting Islamabad on notice that Delhi draws a 
straight line from killings in Afghanistan to the Pakistani 
security establishment.  Such accusations, while they will 
not derail PM Singh's determined desire for Indo-Pak peace, 
do give the security establishment a way of countering 
unproven Pakistani allegations about Indian involvement in 
 
NEW DELHI 00002967  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
Baluchistan, and reflect the lack of trust between Delhi and 
Islamabad about each others' intentions in Afghanistan. 
Before the bad vibes burbles further, we should issue a 
strong USG statement of condemnation of the murder, in an 
effort to clear the air and nip any war of words that might 
ensue.  END COMMENT. 
 
ACTION REQUEST: SUGGESTED USG STATEMENT 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST FOR SCA and PA:  We suggest the USG 
issue the following statement: 
 
The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms 
the vile and despicable murder of Indian engineer K. 
Suryanarayana by the Taliban on April 30.  The Taliban's 
nihilistic and bloody tactics almost destroyed Afghanistan, 
and by their latest outrage they are trying to intimidate the 
brave men and women from many countries who are helping 
Afghanistan to rebuild.  Indian engineers, educators, health 
workers, and technicians are working side-by-side with the 
people of Afghanistan to help that country put behind it the 
nightmare of Taliban misrule.  India and America will 
continue to work closely together to help the people of 
Afghanistan.  We will support India in its pledge to find the 
killers and bring them to justice, and urge all to help in 
bringing the Taliban to justice. 
BLAKE