News Analysis |
Three foreign nationals working for French catering company Sodexo were abducted and killed in Kabul on Thursday, deepening concerns about security of expatriates in Afghanistan. Sodexo, which employs around 230 staff in Afghanistan, expressed shock and said it was working closely with Afghan authorities.
These fears have been largely confirmed with the actions of Indian backed Afghan-based terror groups such as the TTP and JamaatulAhrar against Pakistan as well as the confession of captured Indian intelligence officer KulbhusanJadhav.
“An Indian, a Malaysian and a Macedonian citizen were abducted and killed. We have found their bodies,” Hashmat Stanekzai, spokesman for Kabul’s police chief, told Reuters. Kidnapping has been a major problem in Afghanistan in recent years. While it mainly affects Afghans abducted for ransom, foreigners have also been targeted, either by criminals or by militant groups.
“We are deeply saddened and shocked to learn of the tragic loss of three of our team members in Kabul, Afghanistan, today,” Sodexo CEO Denis Machuel said in a statement. Police said the men were abducted near Pul-e-Charkhi on the eastern outskirts of Kabul and their bodies were found in a car parked in the Mussahi district in the southern part of Kabul province.
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“They were shot dead and their bodies were found inside a car,” said NusratRahimi, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry. The Malaysian national was 64, the Indian 39 and the Macedonian 37. They were all travelling for work with a local driver.
Sodexo manages canteens and facilities for offices, the military, schools, hospitals and prisons, and also supplies vouchers for meals and gifts. Its clients range from the Royal Ascot Racecourse in England to the U.S. Marine Corps.
On 17 July 2018, reports circulated that The Station Chief of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of India in Afghanistan Parkash Sena has reportedly been shot dead in Afghanistan by unknown elements. Parkash Sena had been assassinated in Kabul a few days ago and his killing is kept secret by the Indian and Afghanistan governments.
The killing of Parkash is being termed a serious setback to RAW’s network in Afghanistan and a total intelligence failure of RAW in Afghanistan and in India as well. Two more RAW agents in Afghanistan have also gone missing and this news is also circulating on social media as Indian government and media are keeping mum on this issue.
Police said the men were abducted near Pul-e-Charkhi on the eastern outskirts of Kabul and their bodies were found in a car parked in the Mussahi district in the southern part of Kabul province.
In May, Seven Indian engineers of an RPG group company working in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province were abducted on Sunday by Taliban gunmen who apparently mistook them for government employees. The Taliban fighterscaptured the Indians, working for Maharashtra-based company KEC, and their Afghan driver early this morning in Bagh-e-Shamal area of the provincial capital Pul-e-Khomre.
Pakistan claimed on 27 April 2017 that at least 13 Indian spies were also among those killed in a massive US bomb blast targeting Islamic State’s regional affiliate in Afghanistan. On April 13, the Pentagon announced that the US military dropped the ‘Mother of All Bombs (MOAB)’ – the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat – on a ‘cave-tunnel complex’ used by IS, commonly known by its Arabic acronym Da’ish, in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.
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Afghan officials the 20,000-pound bomb, which struck in the Achin district of Nangarhar – close to the border with Pakistan – killed 94 militants and that there were no civilian casualties.Indian media reports suggested that some Indian nationals were also among the fatalities. The reports claimed that these Indian citizens were, in fact, Da’ish militants.
The presence of RAW’s agents should also be seen in the backdrop of revelations made by EhsanullahEhsan, the former spokesperson of terrorist groups TTP and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, who turned himself to the Pakistani authorities.
Afghanistan neighbor Pakistan has largely been suspicious of its archrival India in Afghanistan. It fears New Delhi will use its clout to transform Afghanistan into a second front for Pakistan. These fears have been largely confirmed with the actions of Indian backed Afghan-based terror groups such as the TTP and Jamaat ul Ahrar against Pakistan as well as the confession of captured Indian intelligence officer Kulbhusan Jadhav.
Pakistan has always highlighted to the international community that India was using Afghan soil against Pakistan and it had been repeatedly stated by those in India in position of authority and responsibility that their effort was to squeeze Pakistan from the eastern and western borders.