July 29, 2008	Tuesday	Rajab 25, 1429

KABUL, July 28: The Afghan intelligence agency accused Pakistani agents on Monday of training thousands of militants to attack Indian road projects in Afghanistan.

Afghan officials have accused Inter Services Intelligence agency of a string of attacks in recent months straining relations between the two neighbours.

“Pakistan’s ISI (agents) are determined to hamper the activities of Indian companies in various parts of Afghanistan,” the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said in a statement,

“The spy agency have some 3,000 terrorists, most of them foreigners, under sabotage training to attack Indian construction projects inside Afghanistan,” it said.

Afghan officials have accused the ISI of being behind a suicide bomb attack on the Indian Embassy that killed 58 people in Kabul earlier this month and an assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai in April.

Pakistan denies the charges and says the Afghan government is trying to deflect attention from its failure to stem rising violence and end the Taliban resistance.

An Indian company has won the contract to pave a major road in eastern Afghanistan, close to the Pakistani border, the NDS said. A number of Indian road workers have been killed in Afghanistan where India has pledged some $750 million in reconstruction projects.—Reuters