A large bomb near the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul killed at least 12 people on Thursday; attack Indian officials said was a suicide strike directed at their mission. The Indian embassy was the scene in July last year of the deadliest attack in Kabul of the 8-year-old war, when a Taliban suicide car bomber killed 58 people, including two senior Indian diplomats, and wounded a further 141. India is one of the biggest donors in Afghanistan and its influence - $1.2 billion in aid from highway construction to new consulates - is viewed with suspicion from many actors in the region, from militants to Pakistan. Majority Hindu India's already marked influence even runs to culture, with many Afghans watching Bollywood hits on DVD and Hindi language TV soaps on cable. After the bombing in July 2008, India said Pakistan's military spy agency, the ISI, was behind most attacks on Indians in Afghanistan as a way of undermining Indian influence. Pakistan has long regarded Afghanistan as a fall-back position in the event of war with India and fears being squeezed between India on its eastern border and a hostile Afghanistan, backed by India, on a western boundary Kabul does not recognize. New Delhi seeks to retain influence in Afghanistan to deter anti-India militant training camps there it accuses Pakistan of backing and to control any possibility of an Islamic surge in a region with traditional ties to Islamabad. No group has yet claimed responsibility. Neither has India indicated whom it suspects as behind what it said was a suicide car bomb. India's finger of suspicion will almost certainly fall on the ISI. Thursday's blast could also point at a network of Islamist groups linked with the Taliban or al Qaeda. The bombing may worsen the regional security environment, underlining the ability of the militants to strike and adding to public anxiety in India about the support the militant networks still retain. The attack also brings India in closer to the security problems of Afghanistan, further complicating regional efforts to forge peace. If India names Pakistan in Thursday's bombing, it could reignite tensions and jeopardize efforts to mend their relations, which nosedived after last November's attack in Mumbai. India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attack. It could become difficult for the Indian government to make any concessions to Pakistan to resume a 5-year-long peace process that New Delhi broke off after the Mumbai attack.
