Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime renewed warnings to wind up projects in the war-ravaged country and leave, Outlook magazine said.
NEW DELHI: Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime has renewed warnings to Indians to wind up projects in the war-ravaged country and leave, an Indian magazine said Friday.
The militia, however, said it "regretted" killing Indian engineer K Suryanarayana, who was abducted on April 28 from the Afghan province of Zabul.
His headless body was found two days later in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.
Outlook magazine, in an advance copy of its latest edition, said a spokesman for the militants had accused Indians working in Afghanistan of being agents of the United States.
"We want all Indians to leave Afghanistan and shut down their projects here," Taliban spokesman Mohammed Hanif was quoting as saying in an interview.
He said the Taliban were "not opposed to Indians per se" but found New Delhi's warming ties with Washington unacceptable.
The Taliban "will use every means to harm those who were in Afghanistan in support of the invading forces or their puppets," he said, rubbishing India's role in reconstruction.
Hanif said the Indian projects, which also include the construction of a highway to the Iranian border, "were only aimed at securing its defence and strategic interests in Afghanistan."
Outlook did not specify the location where it interviewed Hanif.
Some 1,500 Indians work in Afghanistan, mostly aiding the reconstruction of the country's health and education sectors.
Hanif said although Suryanarayana was an "American agent" the Taliban had only killed the 41-year-old contractor for Afghan mobile telephone network Roshan as he tried to escape.
"Our hostage tried to escape and was almost gone. Taliban fighters were left with no choice but to shoot him. We regret his death and we are sad that it happened," Hanif said.
A day after his abduction, the militants had threatened to kill Suryanarayana unless all Indian nationals and companies left Afghanistan within 24 hours.
Several foreigners working in security and reconstruction projects in Afghanistan have been kidnapped since the toppling of the regime in a United States-led operation in late 2001.
Some abductions have been blamed on Taliban and some of those abducted have been killed, including a Briton and an Indian last year.
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