Taliban Are Back - And With A Murderous Vengence

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 6-8-2003 | Luke Harding

[blam]

Taliban are back - and with a murderous vengeance

A suicide bomber in Kabul blows up a bus and kills German soldiers in the latest, deadliest attack on Afghan capital

Luke Harding in Kabul
Sunday June 8, 2003
The Observer (UK)

The resurgence of the Taliban was dramatically illustrated yesterday when a suspected car bomber blew up a military bus in the heart of Kabul, killing at least four German peacekeepers and injuring 29 others. In the deadliest attack on international forces in Afghanistan so far, the bomber drove his taxi alongside the bus shortly after it pulled out of the soldiers' HQ in the east of the city.

Witnesses reported a massive explosion. 'I was 50 or 60 metres away. The whole ground shook. The bus was blown six or seven metres into the air and came flipping down on the other side of the road. I saw several bodies lying on the ground,' an Afghan shopkeeper, Khais Mohammad, 20, told The Observer.

The soldiers were part of the 5,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), based in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban 18 months ago.

The peacekeepers were on a tour of duty in Afghanistan and were heading to the city's international airport when the bomber struck. The attack was almost certainly the work of renegade Taliban or al-Qaeda activists who are trying to overthrow the regime of Afghanistan's pro-American leader, Hamid Karzai.

The timing of the incident could not have been more symbolic - it came while Karzai was away in Britain collecting an honorary knighthood from the Queen.

In recent months Taliban supporters have regrouped in the south and east of Afghanistan, where they have carried out numerous attacks on military bases occupied by Americans, and on their Afghan allies.

Last week 49 people were killed in a ferocious gun-battle near the southern city of Kandahar, between Taliban supporters and pro-government Afghan militiamen. The fighting broke out after Taliban activists slipped across the border from Pakistan and opened fire on government troops using rifles, machine guns and rocket launchers.

Forty Taliban were killed in one of the biggest battles since the movement's apparent defeat in November 2001. But yesterday's suicide bombing graphically demonstrates the Taliban's ability to strike deep inside the capital, and at the emblems of Karzai's struggling interim government.

Last night Major Sarah Wood, a spokesperson for Isaf, said it was too early to speculate who had carried out yesterday's bombing in Kabul. But she added: 'It appears to be a deliberate attack on peacekeeping military personnel. There have been many serious casualties as well as some walking wounded. The injured have been all taken to military hospitals.'

No warning was given before the attack at 8am local time, she added. The blast took place three miles east of the city centre, near the city's customs house, and on the main road out of Kabul towards the eastern city of Jalalabad and the Pakistan border.

The Isaf bus had driven less than 2km from the base used mainly by German and Dutch soldiers when it was ambushed. Yesterday British troops sealed off the area, as Apache helicopters circled overhead. But Afghan security officials said there was little chance of catching those responsible - but said they suspected the involvement of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a rebel pro-Taliban warlord.

The bomber's head was found nearby in a ruined building, they added. 'There's nothing left of the car but the burned chassis. The bomb blew inside the bus,' Afzal Aman, Kabul's deputy chief of security told The Observer .

'This is the work of our enemies. It is a terrorist attack that bears all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda and the supporters of Mullah Omar [the Taliban's fugitive leader].' He added: 'Karzai's government is not weak. You have to remember we have had 22 years of war in Afghanistan. Mr Karzai is working for peace. Most people are happy with him.'

It was not clear last night how many Afghan civilians were injured. More than 11,000 soldiers - most of them Americans - are still in Afghanistan, in addition to 5,000 peacekeepers from some 20 countries.

Germany and the Netherlands are currently in command of Isaf, which was led by Britain last year, but are due to hand over control to Nato in August.

Karzai has pleaded with the international community to extend the scope of Isaf's operations beyond Kabul, and raised the issue last week with Tony Blair in Downing Street. Large areas of Afghanistan have in effect reverted to Taliban control - including the provinces of Zabul, Oruzgan and Helmand in the south, and Paktika and Ghazni in the east.

Taliban attacks on the strategic road between Kabul and Kandahar have grown so frequent that Afghan deminers working in the area now venture out escorted by armed guards. Over the past two months suspected Taliban rebels have shot dead a Red Cross worker near Kandahar and an Italian tourist.

While most ordinary Afghans do not want the Taliban back, there is growing nostalgia for the security and order that they brought, after years of Mujaheddin turmoil and civil war.

'I like the Taliban. I want them back,' one Afghan, who refused to be named, told The Observer.

[MEG33]

Notice the last line.Most Afghanis don't want the Taliban but they quote one that does.

[SunStar]

Yep. It's true. These faceless cowards who fled rather than staying and fighting their enemy are now engaging in new sucker-punch attacks. Then, they hide behind their religion, claiming to be "moderates", not the practitioners of 7th Century Islam that they really are. It's too bad they don't actually believe in their "holy" book. I know a few people who'd like to send them home to their precious Allah.

[Alain2112]

While most ordinary Afghans do not want the Taliban back, there is growing nostalgia for the security and order that they brought

Perhaps we should have sent the squareheads along in the first wave - given a free hand, they would have enforced security and order like they did in Poland and Russia.

[larry h]

One suicdide bombing foretells disaster in Afghanistan?
Seems to me I remember bombings taking place in the shopping and business districts of London, on a fairly regular basis,not all that many years ago....and yet Britain is still there...doesn't sound like a Tet Offensive in the making to me....

[MEG33]

Let's look at Indonesia and the Phillipines,India and Pakistan,Japan had a terrible gas attack,There are bombings in many places.We have some homegrown ones.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[gaspar]

Remember, this is the Guardian, a Trotskyite rag that for a half century has had nothing good to say about the Democracies. Not surprisingly, despite the left's cries of woe, events are moving in favor of the West -- and this in a nation that is the modern equivalent of a Roman circus. Why? Because there are more Afghanis who will snitch on the Taliban, than Taliban who would make trouble for Karzai.

[vbmoneyspender]

bump

[kesg]

The bomber's head was found nearby in a ruined building, they added.

Buzkashi, anyone?

[river rat]

Well, it would appear that perhaps we turned too many Taliban prisoners loose... or we didn't kill enough of the bastards to get their undivided attention and cooperation...

Semper Fi

[50sDad]

Kill them all. Salt their fields.

[50sDad]

Kill them all. Salt their fields.

[danmar]

While most ordinary Afghans do not want the Taliban back, there is growing nostalgia for the security and order that they brought, after years of Mujaheddin turmoil and civil war. 'I like the Taliban. I want them back,' one Afghan, who refused to be named, told The Observer.

If I were the commander in that shit hole of region, I would set up a group of commandoes with the task of "hunt and kill the trouble makers, no holds barred". Everything at your discretion, you do not know me, I do not know you. Just get the job done.

If that scennario is not feaseable, than hire the allready in waiting, mercenaries, offer a decent bounty, kick back and wait. Things will be taken care of it one way or another.

Boy, I feel like volunteer, right know, if the price is right (... ahhh....what the hell, forget about the money), except that I have a family to take care of.

[bjcintennessee]

The one good thing about suicide bombers is that they are a dying breed -- and can only perform their hellacious deed once.

[BlackbirdSST]

The one good thing about suicide bombers is that they are a dying breed -- and can only perform their hellacious deed once.

That's laughable. 1 suicide bomber dies, over 40 troops are taken off the battlefield. Any field commander would revel in those attrition rates against any enemy. Blackbird.