US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI8933

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 008933 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2015 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, EAID, MARR, MASS, PBTS, AF, IN, PK, India-Afghanistan 
SUBJECT: INDIA COMMITTED TO RE-BUILD AFGHANISTAN DESPITE 
WORKER'S MURDER 
 
REF: A. ISLAMABAD 17319 
     B. NEW DELHI 21 NOVEMBER OFFICIAL-INFORMAL 
 
Classified By: Charge Robert O. Blake for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
Anger at Pakistan 
----------------- 
 
1.  (U) Anger in India is mounting following the November 19 
kidnapping and subsequent murder by the Taliban of MR Kutty, 
one of 290 Border Roads Organization employees who have been 
working on the GOI-funded Zaranj-Delaram road in Nimruz 
Province, Afghanistan.  The discovery of Kutty's throat-slit 
body on November 23 quashed nation-wide hopes that the 
Keralite worker and father of two would be released unharmed. 
 The official outcry from the Prime Minister's Office, MEA, 
and Parliament against the murder itself risks being 
overtaken by more strident barbs, including against Pakistan, 
from the Indian media.  For example, the moderate "Times of 
India" on November 24 announced the discovery of Kutty's body 
with the front-page headline "India Outraged as Driver Found 
Slaughtered;" meanwhile, former RAW officer and long-time 
Pakistan baiter B Raman contended in a rediff.com op-ed that 
Kutty's murder was "not a message from the Taliban, but a 
message from Pakistan through the Taliban" for India to 
downscale or zero-out its presence in Afghanistan. 
 
But GOI Playing it Cool 
----------------------- 
 
2.  (C)  MEA Joint Secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran) 
Dilip Sinha told PolCouns on November 25 that the 
anti-Pakistan rhetoric and finger-pointing at Islamabad "is 
entirely media speculation."  This reassurance is consistent 
with the measured public tone the GOI has adopted by focusing 
on the Taliban's self-confessed culpability in Kutty's 
murder.  Sinha also said New Delhi's attempts to reach out to 
Kutty's abductors had failed, as apparently did the Afghan 
government's. 
 
Committed to Afghanistan 
------------------------ 
 
3.  (U)  The general consensus following this tragedy is that 
the GOI will stay the course on its significant Afghan 
development projects.  As if to quell domestic critics before 
they might launch an "India out of Afghanistan" bandwagon 
(akin to the wave of public sentiment that followed the 
summer 2004 kidnapping and release of three Indian truck 
drivers in Iraq), the MEA issued a clear statement that New 
Delhi would not permit terrorism to reduce India's desire to 
aid Afghanistan.  The statement read, in part: "The 
Government of India remains firmly committed to assisting the 
Government and people of Afghanistan in their quest for 
economic development and building a stable and prosperous 
country." 
 
Comment: Now More than Ever, the Benefits of an Indian PRT 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
4.  (C)  The Kutty murder is a sad reminder of the risks that 
India is absorbing as part of the effort to ensure the 
success of the Karzai government.  Whether or not the GOI 
ultimately decides to send a Provincial Reconstruction Team 
(PRT) to Afghanistan (see Reftels), it is Post's opinion that 
the decision ought to rest with New Delhi.  There are a 
number of benefits to having an Indian PRT operating in 
Afghanistan, among them: (1) it would set an example as the 
first PRT from the developing world, and would join Australia 
and South Korea as the only non-NATO PRTs; (2) it would 
benefit from India's long-standing experience in both 
development and peacekeeping; (3) a greater Indian role in 
Afghanistan could help buttress the fledgling democracy 
there; (4) a PRT would further embed India in Afghan 
reconstruction, which the GOI appears willing to do; and (5) 
it would deepen overall US-India relations.  Some Indian 
commentators have already remarked that the security of 
Indian aid workers in Afghanistan is compromised by the US 
unwillingness to countenance Indian "boots on the ground." 
Given India's established aid commitment in Afghanistan, and 
the fact that we are pushing the GOI to do even more over the 
long term, an Indian PRT in Western Afghanistan (far from the 
Pakistan border) strikes us as something that merits support. 
 We acknowledge that, in the South Asian zero-sum framework 
of regional affairs, any move by New Delhi to increase its 
presence in Afghanistan will be met with Pakistani suspicion; 
however, Post views this as a challenge to be managed, not as 
an obstacle or a veto. 
 
5.  (U) Visit New Delhi's Classified Website: 
(http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/sa/newdelhi/) 
BLAKE