New Delhi, July 7: The Kabul blast has prompted Indian officials to iterate that it was time to reassess the security measures in place in Afghanistan.

Sources in intelligence agencies said that they were not planning a pullout immediately but there was no proposal to take up any new project.

Vikram Srivastava, the director-general of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which lost two of its personnel in today’s attack, said: “The security measures of Indians in Afghanistan would be reviewed”.

ITBP provides security to the embassy in Kabul and other consulates in Afghanistan. Forty commandos were involved in protecting the Indian embassy.

Constables Ajay Singh Pathania and Roop Singh were part of the commando team that was deployed at the entrance of the embassy. Both 35 years old, Pathania hailed from Gurdaspur in Punjab and Singh from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. They were posted in Kabul in January 2008.

ITBP personnel have been on deployment for embassy and consulate security since November 2002. Earlier, the ITBP had lost three personnel, who were deployed for providing security to the Zaranj- Delaram road project constructed by India’s Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in southwestern province of Nimroz.

All casualties happened this year itself, and all in similar suicide bomb attacks. Over 4,000 Indians are working in Afghanistan on various projects as part of India’s “humanitarian commitment” to the country.

Sources in intelligence agencies said that there was a growing sense of resentment against Indian presence in Afghanistan, both from the Taliban and Pakistan’s ISI. In addition to the three ITBP personnel killed at the Zaranj project, three BRO personnel had also lost their lives in suicide attacks earlier.

The Zaranj-Delaram road link, likely to be completed in less than two months, will considerably reduce Afghanistan’s dependence on Pakistan for overland access to Central Asia and provide an alternative route for Indian goods to that country.

For India, the road will provide overland access through Iran not just to Afghanistan but across Afghanistan.

Over 320 ITBP personnel are providing security to 300 BRO men for the project which began in 2004. Besides, over 1,400 Afghan guards are also on duty to guard the BRO employees.

As part of other development and humanitarian activities, India is helping Afghanistan in constructing roads and setting up power transmission lines, sinking tube wells and building schools, hospitals and public toilets.

It is also building the Afghan parliament building and engaged in repair and construction of the Salma dam project in Herat province.