The death of two Indians, along with 12 other persons, all from Nepal, in the Taliban suicide bomber attack in Kabul on Monday is a reminder of what it really means for India to stand by Afghan people as they seek to secure and rebuild their war-torn nation.
These days, when we talk of India-Afghanistan cooperation and friendship, we think of the Afghan Parliament building that was built with Indian assistance or the Salma Dam that was recently inaugurated and will help up hundreds of Afghan homes; we like to talk of our multi-billion dollar aid package, our growing economic ties, India's role in training the Afghan armed forces, Afghanistan's love for Bollywood films and music, and so on and so forth. What we do not like to talk about is the cost of some of these initiatives - not so much the economic cost but the kind of cost that was incurred on Monday with the death of Ganesh Thapa and Govind Singh from Dehradoon who were working as security guards for a private company, Sabre International, that had been employed by the Canadian Embassy.
Ganesh Thapa and Govind Singh from Dehradoon are not the first Indians to be killed in Afghanistan - last year, four Indians died when a Kabul guesthouse was stormed by three Taliban gunmen; In 2010, six Indian construction workers and several Indian doctors were killed two Kabul guesthouses frequented by Indians came were targeted by the Taliban; before that in 2008, the Indian Embassy in Kabul was attacked killing 58 people including the Indian defense attache, a political consul and two embassy security guards. In fact, the Indian diplomatic missions after repeatedly come under fire in Afghanistan.
Additionally, Indian workers have also been abducted on many occasions - in fact, Judith D'Souza, an Indian employed with an international NGO, was abducted in Kabul recently and is still missing. As India seeks to increase its footprint globally, and with hard power, these are some of the tough lessons it needs to keep in mind.