Over a year after the Indian consulate in Herat was attacked on May 23 last year, the Indian diplomatic mission in northwestern Afghanistan has shifted to a “more secure” place where the US consulate was earlier located. “We have been getting a lot of threats in Herat. So the Indian consulate has shifted to another location which is more secure. which was earlier being used by the US government. The earlier location was very vulnerable,” an Indian diplomat in Kabul told The Indian Express. [related-post] The move assumes significance in the wake of heightened security threat to Indian missions in Afghanistan, following a leadership change in Taliban after Mullah Omar’s death. With Sirajuddin Haqqani of the Haqqani network — accused of attacking the Indian embassy in Kabul in 2008 — being named the deputy leader in the Taliban, the Indian establishment is on alert. The new Indian consulate near Bagh Millat in Herat was originally built as a five-star hotel property. In 2012, it was taken over by the US government, which customised and refurbished it to ensure their safety. The US government vacated the property in October 2014. South Block sources said the decision to shift was taken at the highest level. On May 23 last year, the Indian consulate was attacked by four heavily-armed terrorists. Nobody from the consulate was injured in the attack. Three days later, then Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai told Prime Minister Modi that the attack had the imprint of a Lashkar-e-Toiba operation.
