In the wake of the suicide attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, New Delhi is actively considering upgrading an existing intelligence sharing mechanism with Washington that will allow both sides to alert each other in case of a terrorist attack against either of the countries.

This has assumed importance as despite close ties between India and the US, the CIA’s intelligence alert on the embassy attack in Kabul was communicated through a third party, Afghanistan's National Security Directorate, rather than directly to either the South Block or the Indian Embassy in Washington.

The fact is that had it not been for the specific American alert on July 1, the suicide attackers had all plans to ram the embassy building with RDX explosive laden vehicle on July 7. It is only after this alert that the embassy security decided to move the machine gun position much behind the gate to get a better chance to bring down the attackers. The prior alert given by the Afghan intelligence talked about terrorists attacking the embassy wearing Kabul police uniform. The Indian intelligence alert to the Kabul Embassy was sent after the NSD intelligence without any valuable or actionable addition.

It is evident from the episode, in which India lost its Political Counsellor and Military Attaché that the intelligence channel established between military to military since the NDA days apparently did not function. Post-9/11, New Delhi and Washington had set up intelligence liaison that would allow both sides to share intelligence via military channels only in case there was information about terrorist attack on the other country. Even though there is a counter-terrorism dialogue between the two countries at the additional secretary level, there is no provision for sharing of such crucial intelligence except at the level of the National Security Advisor or informal levels between the security agencies. The only other explanation is that since the intelligence on the Kabul attack was generated by the CIA, the Pentagon or the military channel had no knowledge of it. It is another matter that the American diplomats in Kabul were well versed with the intelligence.

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