With Taliban activities in Afghanistan witnessing a rise, India is sending Indo-Tibetan Border Police commandos to beef up security of its personnel engaged in reconstruction work there.
At least 134 highly trained commandos will be despatched in two batches beginning this month for protection of Border Roads Organisation personnel constructing a crucial highway in Afghanistan, sources told PTI in New Delhi on Sunday.
Seventy five commandos will be sent in the first batch in about a fortnight in view of the urgent security requirement cited by BRO, the sources said.
Formalities for sending them, including arrangement of travel documents, are underway, they said.
Fifty-nine more commandos will be sent early next month, they said adding, they are at present being given training for the specific task.
With the reinforcements, the total number of ITBP commandos in Afghanistan for protection of Indian workers will go up to 388 as 254 are already there for the task.
The decision to send additional commandos was taken in response to a recent SOS from BRO which is engaged in construction of the 218-km Zaranj-Delaram highway, a strategic road that will connect Kandahar to Iran border.
The BRO sent the request as it feared Taliban could target its workers to prevent them from construction of the highway.
