With increased security threat on Indian assets in Afghanistan, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police will dispatch a fresh contingent of its troops to the war-torn country next week to augment the security of key Indian assets.
"A batch of officers and personnel will leave for Kabul in the next ten days to augment our strength," Director General of ITBP Vikram Srivastava told PTI.
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The decision comes after a three-member team of the force, which has been guarding Indian installations in Afghanistan, returned after assessing security situation, in the wake of a number of attacks on Indian interests including diplomatic missions in the central Asian country.
The 218-kilometer Delaram-Zeranj highway project, undertaken by the Border Road Organisation, which gives the landlocked country access to an Iranian port, is expected to open for vehicular traffic shortly.
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The ITBP troops deployed for security duties would be de-inducted and brought back to the country, Srivastava said.
The ITBP team headed by its Additional Director General Ranjit Sinha had met local and Indian officials posted in Afghanistan during their visit and taken stock of the security situation.
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The team also visited various consulates in Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e-sharif and Jalalabad and took stock of the present operations, Srivastava added.
The ITBP, which has almost 400 of its personnel deployed to protect Indian infrastructure and men in Kabul, lost two of its men -- Ajay Pathania and Roop Singh -- including Defence Attache R D Mehta and senior Indian Foreign Services officer V V Rao, in a suicide attack on the Indian embassy on July 7 that killed more than 50 people.
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