“We have sensitised the Afghan authorities of the threat perception to Indians working in various capacities,” Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said after an hour-long meeting with President Hamid Karzai, and before that with Foreign Minister Spanta and Speaker of the Wolesi Jirga Yunus Qanooni.

The concern comes even as the two sides shared worries over a Taliban resurgence, with suspected help coming from Pakistan, and a reminder that three Indians have already lost their lives in the country, thereby casting a shadow over development projects.

Most Indians in Afghanistan are engaged in development work. However, many of them are also with multilateral development agencies or Indian officials engaged in capacity building to lend Afghanistan development expertise in the area of public administration.

New Delhi has not come forward with suggestions on how Afghanistan should approach the issue, careful enough to say that Kabul was doing “more than enough” to ensure the security of Indians numbering over 3,000. However, a top official with Mukherjee’s delegation said that India was open to the idea of “helping out in any way” if such a request came. The added concerns were in the light of a suicide attack in Khost that killed ten people on Tuesday.

The official admitted that terrorism and the issue of border fencing with Pakistan had obviously been discussed with the Afghan leadership. A senior Afghan Foreign Ministry official admitted as much when he said the two sides discussed “everything covering the issues of terrorism and security”.

Indicating a larger role for India in the security context, perhaps beyond the training to personnel and non-lethal assistance, he said: “We can learn from India’s experience, especially in the area of controlling a multi-ethnic population which Afghanistan also has. India is a superpower in the region and it will be good for this country if India plays a role here.”