The Pakistan link in the threat to Indians and to Afghanistan is, according to officials here, a clearly established one. “Almost every problem that we have here on the security issue is sponsored by Pakistan,” an official said.

In fact, Mukherjee, without naming Pakistan, said both India and Afghanistan maintain that cross-border terrorism is a major problem.

Signs of how seriously that threat is taken is reflected on the streets of Kabul. The capital city is heavily fortified, and even during heavy snowfall, there’s no let-up in the security drill. Every VIP movement sees all vehicles being stopped at short notice. At Kabul airport, there are at least four security checks, each checkpoint running independently of others, with vehicles made to go through four separate security checks.

Usually, emails are used to reach out to the Indian community. This is why the Indian Embassy here is so keen to develop a full-scale registry of Indians in the country. At the moment, over 3,000 are registered but there are thousands more and the Indian mission knows very little about them. Said one official, “It is absolutely necessary that Indians register with us to help us in tracking them, especially when there is a problem.”

There is general assessment that India’s growing involvement in Afghanistan’s development may be responsible for turning the spotlight on them. A “non-traditional donor nation”, India has the fifth largest aid package for the Afghans, and this is usually visible — among them involvement in key power projects.