The Taliban helmed attack on the Afghan parliament on Monday, ended with all six gunmen killed, the interior ministry said.
Militants fired four rockets at the Afghan Parliament on Monday with one impacting the new building that was built with India's assistance, media reports said.
But there was some disappointment among sections of the gathering since many in those sworn-in are accused of serious rights abuses and links to the drugs trade.
The MHA's decision came about a fortnight after the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and many Afghans arriving in India fearing retribution from that country's new rulers.
A total of 168 people, including 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, were flown from Kabul to the Hindon airbase in a C-17 heavy-lift military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The elections to the Wolesi Jirga (the Lower House of Afghan Parliament) scheduled September 18 has raised crucial questions on the feasibility of holding elections in a warring nation.
A closure of the Indian mission in Kabul will be a Himalayan blunder at this historic juncture when the wheels of diplomacy and politics are set to accelerate in Afghanistan, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
'India's treatment to a member of parliament of Afghanistan was not good and I am very upset about this action.'
Here's a collection of some of the best photos from around the world shot by ace Reuters photographers in the last 24 hours.
Denouncing terrorism and extremism, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Friday said such ideologies provide no answers to problems of the people and their flames should not be allowed to be fanned once again.
The sources said India may be building small libraries as part of the community development initiative, but most of its investments in Afghanistan were on mega infrastructure projects including the 218 km road from Zaranj to Delaram, the Salma Dam and the new Afghan Parliament building.
Ustad Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, Afghan president Hamid Karzai's first choice as the speaker of the new Afghan parliament, is at once the perfect bridge the latter needs to reach out extensively in the Islamic world and Pakistan, says former diplomat MK Bhadrakumar, possibly the first and last India to have met Sayyaf in his native village
Kabul was rocked by twin blasts near the Afghan Parliament, claimed by Taliban.
The Taliban will view India through the eyes of the ISI and can be relied upon to undertake hostile actions against this country, warns Virendra Kapoor.
If the Taliban have proved one thing over these two decades, it is that they are way smarter than their big brother, observes Shekhar Gupta.
PM Modi is likely to visit Kabul on December 25 where he will inaugurate the new building of the Afghan Parliament constructed by India at a cost of about USD 90 million.
'But an overthrow of the Afghan government would really embolden regional militant groups in a big way.' 'LeT and JeM could be emboldened, and prompted to replicate in Kashmir what the Taliban did in Afghanistan.'
'It's waging an offensive with no seeming precedent.' 'The fact that it's now entering cities, as opposed to remaining massed around their perimeters, is a game changer.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday wrapped up his two-day visit to Russia, during which the two nations signed 16 pacts to expand cooperation in various sectors.
India Tuesday pledged an additional assistance worth $50 million to Afghanistan, raising the total amount of aid provided to the war-ravaged country to $600 million.
The memorable portrayal of a pathan 'Sher Khan' by actor Pran in Bollywood movie 'Zanjeer' on Friday found its way into diplomacy as Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned it to underscore how Indians view Afghans as true and magnanimous friends.
'In a relationship that does not permit cricket, how can the prime ministers embrace and send a false message,' asks Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'Foreign ministry sources in Delhi discount the official version of the story, in which Modi made an impromptu request to stop over at Lahore, during the course of a birthday telephone call to Nawaz Sharif. In fact, this stopover had been carefully considered in Delhi, as a way to galvanise the peace process further.'
The election seem to have been conducted without any major security lapses. However, in the coming weeks, the military situation in Kandahar could tilt in the Taliban's favour, notes Aveek Sen.
In diplomacy, a prime ministerial visit should be viewed as a rare event, not a routine one, which should be taken recourse to only when other options like ministerial visits are not available. But Modi has a different style of functioning. He wants to do everything himself, says Rajeev Sharma
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Afghanistan's new Parliament built by India in Kabul
All the four gunmen, who had stormed the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Herat province early on Friday, have been gunned down, Indo-Tibetan Border Police chief Subhas Goswami said.
'The two NSAs, who have been mandated to address mutual concerns on terrorism, will need to devise credible and irreversible measures to see that the likes of Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar do not ever get a free hand to run riot again,' says Ambassador G Parthasarathy, India's former high commissioner in Pakistan.
The United States on Monday assured India that its concerns over Taliban insurgents gaining legitimacy without severing their terror links will neither be "overlooked or undermined" during the talks with the Islamic fundamentalist group.
The government has returned to talks with Pakistan, but can it withstand pressure from a jingoistic press and a rabidly nationalistic social media.
Here are some of the best photos from around the world in the month gone by...
A list of all the foreign visits taken up by PM Narendra Modi this year and their outcomes.
'Clearly, the Modi government is proving to be far more willing than any previous government in Delhi to hitch India's wagons with the US' regional strategies.'
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