Indian workers engaged in reconstruction activities in Afghanistan will not move out, India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Wednesday, a day after yet another Indian worker was allegedly kidnapped by the Taliban militia, reported the dpa.
"India will not move out because this is exactly what the Taliban wants," Mukherjee was quoted as saying by PTI news agency. "They do not want any development activity in Afghanistan ... India will not succumb to such pressure," he said.
Mukherjee said India was helping Afghanistan in the construction of a major road to Iran, a hydel power project and its parliament building. He said adequate security arrangements were in place for all Indian nationals working in Afghanistan.
An Indian and Nepalese working with an Afghan logistic company affiliated with a US security firm in the western province of Herat, went missing between Herat city and the Adraskan district of the province Monday evening.
A spokesman for India's Foreign Ministry identified the missing Indian national as Sarang Mohammad Naeem and said the Afghan government was investigating the matter but had been unable to trace Naeem so far. "We are keeping a close watch on further developments concerning this incident," the official said.
The abduction comes 10 days after two personnel of India's Border Roads Organisation (BRO) were killed and five others injured in a suicide blast at a road construction project in the Nimroz province.
Besides the latest victims, four Indians have been killed and at least four injured by Taliban militants since 2005.
In April 2006, an Indian engineer working for a private phone company was kidnapped by Taliban fighters in the southern region and was killed after a few days captivity.