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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 002079 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NP, AC, PM 
 
STATE FOR INR/MR 
 
STATE FOR SCA/INS, PM/CBM, PM/PRO 
 
STATE FOR SCA/PPD, PA/RRU 
 
STATE FOR AID/APRE-A 
 
USDOC FOR 4530/IEP/ANESA/OSA FOR BILL MURPHY 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: KMDR KPAO PGOV PREL IN
SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REPORT: BLAST OUTSIDE INDIAN 
EMBASSY IN KABUL 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: The blast outside the Indian embassy in 
Kabul on October 8, 2009, the second attack in two 
years allegedly targeting the Indian Mission in 
Afghanistan, generated widespread reporting in the 
Indian media today. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on 
Friday arrived in Kabul to review the situation and 
planned to meet with President Hamid Karzai. Indian 
Ambassador Jayant Prasad was reported saying the 
"Indian Embassy was the target." Reports said that the 
Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. India's 
envoy to the United Nations Hardeep Singh Puri 
reportedly asked the world leaders to negotiate an 
international treaty to tackle terrorism expeditiously. 
Initial commentary in today's press is given below. 
Editorial opinion appearing in the coming days will be 
reported in subsequent cables.  END SUMMARY. 
 
"TALIBAN OWNS UP TO KABUL BLAST, SHIFTS FOCUS FROM 
ISI," THE TIMES OF INDIA, English daily 
 
¶2. In promptly claiming responsibility for the suicide 
attack outside the Indian embassy in Kabul on Thursday, 
the Taliban may have given the game away. Senior 
intelligence and security officials said this was 
nothing but a smokescreen created by the actual 
perpetrators to keep the focus away from ISI whose 
involvement in the July 2008 blast near the Indian 
embassy that left 60 dead is well acknowledged. "It is 
quite deliberate the way they have claimed 
responsibility. The timing of the latest attack is very 
important and it suggests that this too has been 
executed by the perpetrators of last year's attacks 
including the ISI. It comes at a time when President 
Obama has initiated his two-pronged policy in the 
region -- war in Afghanistan and aid surge in 
Pakistan,'' said strategic affairs analyst Brahma 
Chellaney. 
 
"PAKISTAN SENDS A MESSAGE VIA KABUL BOMBER," THE 
TELEGRAPH, English daily 
 
¶3. A powerful but fortuitously aborted attack on the 
Indian embassy in Kabul today was Pakistan's message to 
India that its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) can 
hit Indian interests anytime, anywhere with impunity. 
It came exactly four days after Pakistan's foreign 
minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who has stayed back in 
the US after his testy meeting with external affairs 
minister S.M. Krishna in New York on September 27, 
publicly warned that Indians "have to justify their 
interest" in Kabul. 
 
"KABUL AGAIN," THE INDIAN EXPRESS, English daily 
 
¶4. This time too, the Afghan foreign office has pointed 
to persons with "bases outside of Afghanistan", to 
those positioned against India-Afghanistan relations. 
Investigators should get firmer leads soon. India's 
personnel are not military people, they are engineers, 
doctors, teachers, and construction workers, all 
engaged in civilian activities and contributing to 
 
NEW DELHI 00002079  002 OF 002 
 
 
India's "soft" participation in nation-building there. 
Their induction and presence have nuanced Indian 
diplomacy in the region, and won local support. But 
this kind of strategic gain, as seen on Thursday, comes 
with huge risks to lives. 
 
"ANOTHER ATTACK," NAVBHARAT TIMES, Hindi daily 
 
¶5. With another blast targeted at the Indian Embassy in 
Kabul after more than a year, we may not squarely blame 
Pakistan, but it is time we ask Pakistan what happened 
to the probe it had promised the last time around. 
India also needs to be prepared for the day when 
America vacates Afghanistan, leaving a puppet regime 
and lots of mess behind. 
 
"BLAST IN KABUL," HINDUSTAN, Hindi daily 
 
¶6. Pakistan is trying to show America that terrorism in 
South Asia is a fall out of India's position on 
Kashmir. But America is not fully convinced yet.  The 
bomb attack outside the Indian embassy on October 8 is 
a part of this covert attempt by Pakistan to convince 
America that such incidents are a sign of revolt 
against India's position on Kashmir. 
 
"INDIA ON TARGET AGAIN," AMAR UJALA, Hindi daily 
 
¶7. By attacking the Indian embassy in Kabul, Al Qaeda 
has made it clear that India is as much its enemy as 
America.  In fact, for the Taliban and Al Qaeda, India 
is enemy no. 2, after the U.S. That no Indian was 
killed in this attack is a mere co-incidence. 
Afghanistan is a vexed situation. President Obama 
appointed Richard Holbrooke as special envoy to the 
region, but then the U.S. is all at sea. As for Al 
Qaeda and the Taliban, they are only growing stronger. 
ROEMER