Afghanistan: Lashkar-e-Tayyeba attacked Indian consulate in Herat

Banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) was behind the attack on the Indian consulate at Herat, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai said on Monday.

In an explosive interview to Headlines Today, Karzai did not mince his words when he said that it would be in Islamabad's interest to uproot the sanctuaries and safe havens which terrorists have on Pakistan's soil.

President Karzai was in India to participate in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony. "According to information given to us by a western intelligence agency, the perpetrators of the Herat attack belong to the LeT," he said.

He also praised the Indo- Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel and the Afghan National Security Forces for their prompt response in neutralising the terrorists in the May 23 attack in which all the four gunmen, who had stormed the consulate in Afghanistan's Herat province, were gunned down.

"Herat (attack) was very clearly a terrorist strike on Indian and Afghan interests," Karzai said.

In response to a query on Afghanistan and India both being victims of Pakistansponsored terror, he said, "Both Afghanistan and India hope that relevant authorities in Pakistan will react and uproot the source and sanctuary of terror there."

President Karzai is scheduled to meet Modi at the Hyderabad House on Tuesday morning and is expected to discuss issues confronting both the countries.

Talking about Indo- Afghan ties, President Karzai said, "India has been a great friend of Afghanistan and has stood by its people in the last 12 years.

We have given a weapons wish list to the Indian government, some have been accepted and delivered to us and we are confident Prime Minister Modi will consider it (the rest) favourably."

Looking ahead, President Karzai said that he doesn't see 2014 as a drawdown but "as an opportunity to build on our strengths and show the world that the nation is now self-reliant, of course with support and guidance from friends like India".

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/hamid-karzai-interview-let-hand-in-herat-attack/1/363829.html