INDIA STRENGTHENS RESOLVE IN AFGHANISTAN DESPITE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 002967

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/01/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER PINR PBTS EAID IN PK
SUBJECT: INDIA STRENGTHENS RESOLVE IN AFGHANISTAN DESPITE
TALIBAN BEHEADING OF ENGINEER

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Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt for Reasons 1.4 (B, D)


1. (U) This is an ACTION REQUEST for SCA and PA. Please see
Para 8.


2. (C) SUMMARY: Following the Taliban's decapitation of an
Indian mobile phone network engineer taken hostage in
Afghanistan, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran made a
thinly veiled reference to Pakistani support for the Taliban.
After the second such killing in six months, and the ensuing
outcry in the Indian media and political opposition, official
Indian frustration with security in Afghanistan is mounting,
and may result in additional Indian efforts to keep their
people safe. While Indian resolve to help Afghanistan will
not waver, fingers are starting to point at Pakistan.
Saran's statement does not mean that the PM's efforts to
forge a lasting peace with Pakistan are off track, but they
do reveal that officials in Delhi draw a straight line from
their murdered citizens working to rehabilitate Afghanistan
through the Taliban and back to the Pakistani establishment.
Saran's finger pointing answers Pakistani complaints about
alleged (yet never proven) Indian mischief in Baluchistan,
and reinforces the lack of trust between the two capitals
over each other's intentions in Afghanistan. A strong USG
statement of condemnation (see draft in para eight) can help
clear the air before bad vibes spiral too much. END SUMMARY.

ANOTHER INDIAN BEHEADED
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3. (C) Indian media devoted saturation coverage to the grisly
murder April 30 by the Taliban of Indian mobile phone
engineer K. Suryanarayana -- an Andhra Pradesh native -- who
worked for a Bahraini company installing a cellular network
in Zabul province. The reporting was a flashback to the
murder of an Indian driver from Kerala -- Maniappan Kutty --
murdered in a similar fashion in November 2005, and gave
South Indians a particularly acute feeling of loss. Indian
media were particularly shocked that the Taliban executed
Suryanarayana before their own ludicrous 24-hour deadline for
the withdrawal of all Indians from Afghanistan had passed,
and reported with skepticism the Taliban's explanation that
they had killed him when he tried to escape.

MEDIA CALLS FOR MORE SECURITY
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4. (C) The media coverage, while full of pictures of
hysterical relatives, did not question why India had chosen
to support Afghanistan so extensively, nor did any
journalists or commentators call for an Indian withdrawal.
Even the family members did not blame the government for what
had happened. Instead, most press here said India had no
choice but to stay the course, and influential newspaper
Indian Express called in an editorial for India to mull
taking additional steps to support Afghanistan, including
raising force protection for its staff there and
significantly expanding training and arming the ANA and
police. The goal, said the IE editorial, was to show "the
Taliban and its supporters in Pakistan" that India remained
determined to "raise the political costs" to those
threatening its Afghan interests. When asked by Poloff if
the prevailing press line was on target, Afghan Desk Director
Aquino Vimal said it generally reflected the GOI's thinking.

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NOTE: India's security presence in Afghanistan is currently
limited to about 300 Indo-Tibetan Border Police helping
protect road workers and providing site security for the
Indian consulates. END NOTE.

INDIA POINTS THE FINGER AT PAKISTAN
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5. (C) Frustrated at losing another Indian to terror so soon
after it had promised to do more to protect official Indians
in Afghanistan following the Kutty murder, and under the
pressure from saturation media coverage on the eve of
elections in the large Southern states of Kerala and Tamil
Nadu, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran late on April 30 made a
veiled reference to Pakistani support for the Taliban, saying
that his government was "appalled by this inhuman act of
terror by the Taliban and its sponsors." The MEA timed the
statement, which detailed at length the steps the GOI had
taken since the Kutty murder to augment security and listed
the actions taken once news of Suryanarayana's capture
emerged, to make sure it appeared in all the morning
broadsheets and on all the morning TV news shows. In
addition, the MEA backgrounded that NSA Narayanan had spoken
to Tariq Aziz about the matter. In Q&A following the
statement, Saran said the Taliban had been "operating in the
areas which straddle the Pakistan-Afghanistan border" and
that the Taliban had committed acts of terrorism within
Pakistan itself which demanded concerted efforts by the
international community, including India and Pakistan.

WHILE BJP PUTS THE UPA ON THE DEFENSIVE
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6. Sensing political blood in the water, BJP opposition
leader LK Advani issued a May 1 statement from his "Indian
Security Pilgrimage" campaign trail complaining that India
was "paying a heavy price due to the UPA government's lack of
direction, coherence, and even a full-time minister in the
vital area of foreign policy." Amplifying his party's
concerns about what it calls "minorityism" and Congress'
reliance on Muslim votes, Advani said, "The developments in
Afghanistan are another instance of the UPA government's lack
of comprehension of national interests in managing India's
neighborhood policy...it's kid-glove approach to Jehadi
terrorist' penetration in India -- both from Pakistan and
Bangladesh -- testifies to the Congress party's vote bank
politics."

WHAT'S THE UPSHOT?
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7. (C) COMMENT: India's official establishment is not about
to cut and run from Afghanistan. India has compelling
national security goals there, and there is general consensus
to stick it out. With broad public support, India may
contemplate increasing its force protection, and is already
mulling an ANA request for non-lethal assistance. By poking
Pakistan in the eye over the latest murder, Foreign Secretary
Saran is putting Islamabad on notice that Delhi draws a
straight line from killings in Afghanistan to the Pakistani
security establishment. Such accusations, while they will
not derail PM Singh's determined desire for Indo-Pak peace,
do give the security establishment a way of countering
unproven Pakistani allegations about Indian involvement in

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Baluchistan, and reflect the lack of trust between Delhi and
Islamabad about each others' intentions in Afghanistan.
Before the bad vibes burbles further, we should issue a
strong USG statement of condemnation of the murder, in an
effort to clear the air and nip any war of words that might
ensue. END COMMENT.

ACTION REQUEST: SUGGESTED USG STATEMENT
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8. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST FOR SCA and PA: We suggest the USG
issue the following statement:

The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms
the vile and despicable murder of Indian engineer K.
Suryanarayana by the Taliban on April 30. The Taliban's
nihilistic and bloody tactics almost destroyed Afghanistan,
and by their latest outrage they are trying to intimidate the
brave men and women from many countries who are helping
Afghanistan to rebuild. Indian engineers, educators, health
workers, and technicians are working side-by-side with the
people of Afghanistan to help that country put behind it the
nightmare of Taliban misrule. India and America will
continue to work closely together to help the people of
Afghanistan. We will support India in its pledge to find the
killers and bring them to justice, and urge all to help in
bringing the Taliban to justice.
BLAKE