Ever since the United States of America under George Bush, launched an armed offensive against Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 after 9/11 attacks, there has been a drastic change in the entire Aghan political topography. The American-Afghan war has caused huge bloodshed in all these years. Over 91,000 Afghans, including civilians, soldiers and militants have lost their lives in the conflict so far. The Soviet-Afghan war which lasted over nine years from December 1979 to February 1989, more than 1.5 million Afghan civilians were killed. In a span of three decades, Afghanistan has been devastated time and again, torn apart by bloody wars. The regional wars involving various clans and ever prominent Taliban in Afghanistan, has nearly destroyed Afghanistan.

At present international troops are withdrawing from Afghanistan. The security situation in Afghanistan has worsened a lot and ISIS looms large in the shadows. This makes rebuilding Afghanistan even more challenging. India has been an integral part of reconstruction of Afghanistan. Not only does India have cultural and historic relations with Afghanistan, but also, strategically Afghanistan holds paramount importance to India. Be it linking South Asia and Central Asia or link between South Asia and the Middle East, Afghanistan holds huge geopolitical importance. Many developmental projects in Afghanistan have been funded and developed by India. The Salwa dam, which is 20 km in length and 3 km in width and cost more than $300 million, is enabling Afghanistan with 42 MW of electricity and water for nearly 80,000 hectares of farmland. There have been several other projects like construction of a 218 km road from Zaranj to Delaram, construction of 220 KV DC transmission line from Pul-e-Khumri to Kabul and a substation at Chamtala, building and five toilets cum sanitation complexes in Kabul. Afghanistan Parliament building has also been funded by Indian government .There are numerous other large infrastructure projects, humanitarian assistance, capacity building initiatives and small developmental projects going on simultaneously.India's pro-active stance in Afghanistan has irked the Taliban as well as Pakistan. There has not only been sabotage but also constant efforts to target Indian embassies and consulates time and again. Although Afghanistan in both Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani era, have tried to safeguard Indian citizens, yet there have been heavy casualties to Indian settlements. 

There has been flurry of attacks on Indian establishments and the latest attack was on building near Indian Consulate office in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern city Afghanistan. In spite of explosions and gunfire, the Afghan security officers managed to shield the Consulate building and further cordoning off the area minimized further danger to the Indian personnel. Incidentally the Indian embassy in Afghanistan is in the Capital city of Kabul where all necessary work regarding working, travelling visas and applications are dealt with. Other Consulate Offices are in Heart, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif. Be it embassy or other consulate offices of India in other cities of Afghanistan they have always been vulnerable to Taliban attacks. Apart from attacks on Indian establishments, there have been incessant attacks on Indians who have been working in various developmental projects in Afghanistan.

 On May 7, 2006, bomb explosion near Indian Consulate in Heart created widespread panic although there were no casualties. Next year on December 15, similarly two bombs were hurled at Indian Consulate in Jalalabad, without any casualties. Two ITBP soldiers were killed on January 3, 2008 in the Razai village of Nimroz Province. On July 7, 2007, the Indian consulate in Jalalabad was attacked where 41 people were killed. In the same year, on December 15, two bombs were thrown in Indian Consulate at Jalalabad again, thankfully there were no casualties. On July 7, 2008 suicide attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul took lives of 66 people which included senior diplomats of the caliber of V. Venkateswara Rao and Brigadier Ravi Datt Mehta.  Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) staffers Ajai Pathaniya and Roop Singh were also killed in the attack. On October 8, 2009, there was a Taliban suicide bomb attack targeting the Indian embassy in Kabul.17 persons were killed and more than 80 people were injured. Later Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. On February 26, 2010, Taliban terrorist struck again and there was a suicide attack at two hotels and guest houses in Kabul which were rented out by the Indian Embassy for its staffers and officers. Five Indian Army officers were killed among other casualties. On August 3, 2013 in a bid to target the Indian Consulate Office at Jalalabad, the Taliban conducted yet again another suicide attack which killed nine Afghans including eight children, although Indians were unharmed. The year 2014 witnessed gruesome attacks on Indian Consulate Office in Heart in Afghanistan from May 23-27, where the ITBP personnel and Afghan police force fought for more than 10 hours against the heavily armed gunmen. Then Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai made direct reference that LeT militants were involved in the attack, which was right before Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over. Last year, on May 13, 2015 India's Ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha was targeted by the militants as four Indians among 14 others were killed when Park Palace guest house in Kabul's Kolola Pushta area was attacked.  On December, 21, 2015, just before Indian PM Narendra Modi was scheduled to visit Afghanistan Parliament, the Afghanistan Intelligence Services NDS prevented suicide bomb attack on India's Consulate Office in Jalalabad.

There have been numerous other cases where Indian engineers or security or Consulate Officers have been abducted. Afghan Intelligence Services and local police authorities have been vigilant enough to thwart all sorts of attacks on Indian Embassy in Kabul and Consulate Offices in other cities, yet there have been so many attacks by Taliban, ISI and Pakistan in all these years. The attacks have been motivated to discourage or dissuade India from playing a pivotal role in rebuilding Afghanistan, yet India have been instrumental enough in being a rock solid pillar to Afghanistan both in terms of monetary and knowledge inputs. One can definitely say that the proxy war which the Pakistanis have been employing in Kashmir and other bordering areas of India, has got its counterpart in Afghanistan also. Strong Indo-Afghanistan relations however can thwart the nefarious designs of terrorist and their handlers.