On Friday Brother Pamattan needed a ride home again so I took him home with my car/driver. It is 15 minutes west of Camp Eggers, and through some to the best and worst places in Kabul. We drove by a Mosque where they were just getting through praying. There is also a section with very nice villas where government and military leaders live. Boy was it a hot and dusty trip.
Yesterday I walked to ISAF HQTRS, and then home to pick up some software and head back to Camp Eggers. Took about an hour. It was funny when I was walking from ISAF to my apartment a local boy walked along with me and he told me he was my body guard. He said your shirt is clean -- I will keep people from touching you. He walked me to the next check point so I gave him a $1 bill and tanked him for being a good body guard. Then I ran into a boy that peddles his wares outside Camp Eggers (bracelets). I have him up to somewhere between 9-11 bracelets for $5. I must have over a 100 by now. I need to send them to my grand kids.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Allen's Great Adventure -- Shopping in Kabul
I went with one of the guys in my house to a bookstore downtown. He had a coffee table book he wanted to buy so I went with him -- traffic was horrible (you have to nose your car into the traffic and hope the guy doesn't hit you. Driving on the wrong side of the road is OK and if someone is in your way you just honk your horn so they know to get out of your way.
We had our driver stay with the car and we went in to shop. When we came out the driver was not where we left him -- we saw him waving his arms up the street from the shop, so off we went to get to the car. Back to work I went -- no fuss no muss.
Later in the afternoon I went to ISAF headquarters to pick up some things. It was kind of hot out 94 degrees, but we drove over so it wasn't too bad. I didn't go outside the wire but about 4/5 times my first year here -- now I go out 2/3 times a day.
Our drivers got a new car so it's a little bigger. The old one was small -- Kia Sport. This is kind of an SUV/Van (Toyota).
We had our driver stay with the car and we went in to shop. When we came out the driver was not where we left him -- we saw him waving his arms up the street from the shop, so off we went to get to the car. Back to work I went -- no fuss no muss.
Later in the afternoon I went to ISAF headquarters to pick up some things. It was kind of hot out 94 degrees, but we drove over so it wasn't too bad. I didn't go outside the wire but about 4/5 times my first year here -- now I go out 2/3 times a day.
Our drivers got a new car so it's a little bigger. The old one was small -- Kia Sport. This is kind of an SUV/Van (Toyota).
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Afghan government: Taliban kills 1 U.S. sailor, 1 held
Afghan government: Taliban kills 1 U.S. sailor, 1 held
Insurgents offer to exchange body of one serviceman for militant prisoners
KABUL — The Taliban have offered to exchange the body of a U.S. Navy member they said was killed in an ambush two days ago in exchange for insurgent prisoners, an Afghan official said Sunday.
U.S. and NATO officials confirmed that two American Navy personnel went missing Friday in the eastern province of Logar, after an armored sports utility vehicle was seen driving into a Taliban-held area. Afghan officials believe one was killed and the other captured when they apparently took a wrong turn and ended up in a dangerous area of Logar.
Abdul Wali, the head of the provincial governing council, said local authorities responded to the Taliban offer by saying, "Let's talk about the one that is still alive." The insurgents said they would have to talk to superiors before making any deal.
Local media in Logar reported the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the two Americans. Both Afghan and NATO officials told The Associated Press they have not been directly contacted by the insurgents. The Taliban demand came through intermediaries, Wali said.
The Taliban have an efficient public relations system and usually quickly call international and local media after attacks to claim responsibility. However, Taliban spokesmen have not responded to multiple calls from the AP seeking comment on the missing pair.
Friday's attack appeared to be spur of the moment, making it likely the militants are trying to decide how to spin the incident.
A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of search operations, confirmed the two were Navy personnel, but would not identify their unit to avoid jeopardizing search operations. The official said it was unclear what the two were doing or what would lead them to leave their compound. The official would not say whether the two were on official business. The pair drove an armored civilian sport utility vehicle and Darwish told the Times they wore civilian clothes.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed his group abducted the two men and took two cameras and two assault rifles, according to Xinhua news agency.
Search launched Vehicles and helicopters were dispatched to search for the two in Charkh district of southern Logar province — about a two-hour drive south of Kabul, said district chief Samer Gul.
Offers of a $20,000 reward for information leading to the sailors' return were broadcast on local radio.
U.S. military officials said the sailors' vehicle was found in Logar Province, just south of Kabul, with no immediate indication that either was killed — no bullet holes or blood inside. The vehicle had been stripped of all of its equipment.
“The area is very bad in terms of security,” Darwish told The New York Times.
Elsewhere, five U.S. troops died in separate bombings in the south, setting July on course to become the deadliest month of the nearly 9-year war for Americans.
Rising casualties are eroding support for the war even as President Barack Obama has sent thousands of reinforcements to try to turn back the Taliban, who would have a leg up in the propaganda war with the capture of two U.S. troops.
A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of search operations, confirmed the two were Navy personnel, but would not identify their unit to avoid jeopardizing search operations. The official said it was unclear what the two were doing or what would lead them to leave their compound. The official would not say whether the two were on official business.
Vehicle attacked after bazaar stop Gul, the district chief in Charkh, said that a four-wheel drive armored sports utility vehicle was seen Friday night by a guard working for the district chief's office. The guard tried to flag down the vehicle, carrying a driver and a passenger, but it kept going, Gul said.
"They stopped in the main bazaar of Charkh district. The Taliban saw them in the bazaar," Gul said. "They didn't touch them in the bazaar, but notified other Taliban that a four-wheel vehicle was coming their way."
The second group of Taliban tried to stop the vehicle, but when it didn't, insurgents opened fire and the occupants in the vehicle shot back, he said.
"Maybe they wanted to go to Paktia province or to the American base, but they came down the wrong road toward Charkh," Gul said. "They didn't pay any attention to the police. Otherwise we could have kept them from going into an insecure area and now this unfortunate incident has happened."
The only U.S. service member known to be in Taliban captivity is Spc. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, who disappeared June 30, 2009 in neighboring Paktika province, an area heavily infiltrated by the Haqqani network, which has deep links to al-Qaida. He has since appeared on videos posted on Taliban websites confirming his captivity.
New York Times reporter David Rohde was also kidnapped in Logar province while trying to make contact with a Taliban commander. He and an Afghan colleague escaped in June 2009 after seven months in captivity, most of it spent in Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan.
Mohammad Nasir Medaruz, director of a radio station in Logar called Meli Pegham, or "National Message," said he had received a phone call from coalition officials asking that he broadcast a message offering $10,000 for information about the whereabouts of each missing service member.
"I told them that Logar is not a safe area and if I broadcast that, I could get attacked," Medaruz said.
He said that if the military officials paid him, he would broadcast the information and say that it was an "advertisement."
He said he did not broadcast the information, but another radio station, sponsored by the military in Logar, did air the message.
On Saturday in the same district in Logar, the manager of an Afghan construction company and his driver were kidnapped, according to spokesman Darwesh. The two Afghans captured worked with Afghan Korean Construction Co., he said.
The five American troops died in roadside bombings in the south — four in a single blast. A fifth service member was killed in a separate attack in the south where international forces are stepping up the fight against the insurgents.
The latest deaths brought to 75 the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this month, including 56 Americans. Many of the deaths have occurred in the south where Afghan and NATO forces are ramping up operations against the Taliban in their southern strongholds, hoping to enable the Afghan government to expand its control in the volatile region.
On Tuesday, an international conference in Kabul endorsed President Hamid Karzai's plan for Afghan security forces to assume responsibility for protecting the country by the end of 2014. Obama has pledged to begin removing U.S. troops starting in July 2011, although he has linked the drawdown to security conditions on the ground.
NBC News' Courtney Kube and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Insurgents offer to exchange body of one serviceman for militant prisoners
KABUL — The Taliban have offered to exchange the body of a U.S. Navy member they said was killed in an ambush two days ago in exchange for insurgent prisoners, an Afghan official said Sunday.
U.S. and NATO officials confirmed that two American Navy personnel went missing Friday in the eastern province of Logar, after an armored sports utility vehicle was seen driving into a Taliban-held area. Afghan officials believe one was killed and the other captured when they apparently took a wrong turn and ended up in a dangerous area of Logar.
Abdul Wali, the head of the provincial governing council, said local authorities responded to the Taliban offer by saying, "Let's talk about the one that is still alive." The insurgents said they would have to talk to superiors before making any deal.
Local media in Logar reported the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the two Americans. Both Afghan and NATO officials told The Associated Press they have not been directly contacted by the insurgents. The Taliban demand came through intermediaries, Wali said.
The Taliban have an efficient public relations system and usually quickly call international and local media after attacks to claim responsibility. However, Taliban spokesmen have not responded to multiple calls from the AP seeking comment on the missing pair.
Friday's attack appeared to be spur of the moment, making it likely the militants are trying to decide how to spin the incident.
A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of search operations, confirmed the two were Navy personnel, but would not identify their unit to avoid jeopardizing search operations. The official said it was unclear what the two were doing or what would lead them to leave their compound. The official would not say whether the two were on official business. The pair drove an armored civilian sport utility vehicle and Darwish told the Times they wore civilian clothes.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed his group abducted the two men and took two cameras and two assault rifles, according to Xinhua news agency.
Search launched Vehicles and helicopters were dispatched to search for the two in Charkh district of southern Logar province — about a two-hour drive south of Kabul, said district chief Samer Gul.
Offers of a $20,000 reward for information leading to the sailors' return were broadcast on local radio.
U.S. military officials said the sailors' vehicle was found in Logar Province, just south of Kabul, with no immediate indication that either was killed — no bullet holes or blood inside. The vehicle had been stripped of all of its equipment.
“The area is very bad in terms of security,” Darwish told The New York Times.
Elsewhere, five U.S. troops died in separate bombings in the south, setting July on course to become the deadliest month of the nearly 9-year war for Americans.
Rising casualties are eroding support for the war even as President Barack Obama has sent thousands of reinforcements to try to turn back the Taliban, who would have a leg up in the propaganda war with the capture of two U.S. troops.
A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of search operations, confirmed the two were Navy personnel, but would not identify their unit to avoid jeopardizing search operations. The official said it was unclear what the two were doing or what would lead them to leave their compound. The official would not say whether the two were on official business.
Vehicle attacked after bazaar stop Gul, the district chief in Charkh, said that a four-wheel drive armored sports utility vehicle was seen Friday night by a guard working for the district chief's office. The guard tried to flag down the vehicle, carrying a driver and a passenger, but it kept going, Gul said.
"They stopped in the main bazaar of Charkh district. The Taliban saw them in the bazaar," Gul said. "They didn't touch them in the bazaar, but notified other Taliban that a four-wheel vehicle was coming their way."
The second group of Taliban tried to stop the vehicle, but when it didn't, insurgents opened fire and the occupants in the vehicle shot back, he said.
"Maybe they wanted to go to Paktia province or to the American base, but they came down the wrong road toward Charkh," Gul said. "They didn't pay any attention to the police. Otherwise we could have kept them from going into an insecure area and now this unfortunate incident has happened."
The only U.S. service member known to be in Taliban captivity is Spc. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, who disappeared June 30, 2009 in neighboring Paktika province, an area heavily infiltrated by the Haqqani network, which has deep links to al-Qaida. He has since appeared on videos posted on Taliban websites confirming his captivity.
New York Times reporter David Rohde was also kidnapped in Logar province while trying to make contact with a Taliban commander. He and an Afghan colleague escaped in June 2009 after seven months in captivity, most of it spent in Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan.
Mohammad Nasir Medaruz, director of a radio station in Logar called Meli Pegham, or "National Message," said he had received a phone call from coalition officials asking that he broadcast a message offering $10,000 for information about the whereabouts of each missing service member.
"I told them that Logar is not a safe area and if I broadcast that, I could get attacked," Medaruz said.
He said that if the military officials paid him, he would broadcast the information and say that it was an "advertisement."
He said he did not broadcast the information, but another radio station, sponsored by the military in Logar, did air the message.
On Saturday in the same district in Logar, the manager of an Afghan construction company and his driver were kidnapped, according to spokesman Darwesh. The two Afghans captured worked with Afghan Korean Construction Co., he said.
The five American troops died in roadside bombings in the south — four in a single blast. A fifth service member was killed in a separate attack in the south where international forces are stepping up the fight against the insurgents.
The latest deaths brought to 75 the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this month, including 56 Americans. Many of the deaths have occurred in the south where Afghan and NATO forces are ramping up operations against the Taliban in their southern strongholds, hoping to enable the Afghan government to expand its control in the volatile region.
On Tuesday, an international conference in Kabul endorsed President Hamid Karzai's plan for Afghan security forces to assume responsibility for protecting the country by the end of 2014. Obama has pledged to begin removing U.S. troops starting in July 2011, although he has linked the drawdown to security conditions on the ground.
NBC News' Courtney Kube and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Lights Out -- Literally
I was in bed last night around 7:45 pm and I noticed the power went off -- no A/C and no overhead fan -- Yikes. It went off a few weeks ago and I sweated all night long and got up in the dark and dressed in the dark. I waited 15 minutes and no one did anything so I went searching for the house manager. I found him and unfortunately it was only in my section of the house, so he went out and looked at the meter and said -- yep it's not working. So he went down to the back-up generator and fired it up -- wala -- electricity. Back to the room and the A/C and fan were working. So off to sleep with sugar plumbs dancing in my head (oh right -- wrong season)!
The back up generator works so efficiently that it moved my electric clock ahead 18 minutes. So it got me up 18 minutes early (4:12 am). My 2 back-up battery operated clocks went off 18 minutes later. Now you know why I go to bed early -- you never know what is going to happen during the night.
The back up generator works so efficiently that it moved my electric clock ahead 18 minutes. So it got me up 18 minutes early (4:12 am). My 2 back-up battery operated clocks went off 18 minutes later. Now you know why I go to bed early -- you never know what is going to happen during the night.
4 US troops die in bomb blast in south Afghanistan
4 US troops die in bomb blast in south Afghanistan
Kevin Frayer / AP
United States Marine LCpl. Brian Quinnones from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines has an unlit cigarette in his mouth following a gun battle as part of an operation to clear the area of insurgents near Musa Qaleh, in northern Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, Friday, July 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)by ROBERT H. REID
Updated 7/24/2010 4:51:59 AM ET
- KABUL, Afghanistan — Four American service members were killed Saturday in a bombing in southern Afghanistan, where international forces are stepping up the fight against the Taliban, officials said.
A NATO announcement did not give the nationalities of the victims of Saturday's blast, nor specify where in the south they died.
However, U.S. officials confirmed they were Americans. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under rules regarding casualty identification.
The latest deaths bring to 69 the number of international service members killed in Afghanistan this month, including 52 Americans.
The U.S.-led force is ramping up operations against the Taliban in their southern strongholds, hoping to enable the Afghan government to expand its control in the volatile region.
There were conflicting reports of fresh fighting in the south in which civilians were injured.
In Kandahar, a man named Abdul Ghafaar said he brought seven children to the city's Mirwais hospital after getting caught in crossfire Friday between NATO and Taliban forces in Sangin, a flash-point town in neighboring Helmand province.
Another man, Marjan Agha, said that he also brought injured people from Sangin and that the fight started Friday afternoon after civilians were caught between coalition and insurgent fighters. He said villagers began walking with a white flag toward NATO forces but shots rang out and two people were killed on the spot.
NATO spokesmen said they were looking into the reports.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
UN Chief in Afghan Rocket Drama
UN Chief in Afghan Rocket Drama
Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 July 2010, 06:39 GMT- Search: Kabul airport rocket fire
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had his plane diverted from Kabul airport due to rocket fire.Rocket fire has prevented a plane carrying UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt from landing at Kabul's airport in Afghanistan, the Swedish Government has confirmed.
Bildt's blog, which first reported the incident, said he and Ban landed instead at the US Bagram base, outside Kabul early on Tuesday morning. They then travelled aboard Blackhawk helicopters to an international conference in the capital on Afghanistan's future.
The Swedish politician described how "rockets hit the airport just as we were on our way to land".
Rocket fire prevents Ban, Swedish FM from landing at Kabul
Kabul, Jul 20 (PTI):
Intense rocket barrage prevented a plane carrying UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt from landing at the Kabul airport and the aircraft was forced to be diverted to Bagram air base.
The two dignitaries were arriving in the Afghan capital to attend an International Conference on Afghanistan and the attack was confirmed by the Swedish Foreign Minister on his blog.
"... rockets hit the airport just when we were coming in to land," read the blog posted at 05:30 hrs in the morning (local time).
Officials later confirmed that the flight was diverted to nearby Bagram base from where the two VVIPs were ferried by a Black Hawk helicopter.
"... together we spent a few hours on the giant US Bagram base just north until the situation would become clearer and arranged transportation to Kabul. There were two US Black Hawk, which then took us away," Bildt wrote.
He said, "the Taliban and others would try to disrupt the important conference here was obviously to be reckoned with... Our presence here is a demonstration of our support for peace and stabilisation process in the country".
Ban was to inaugurate the biggest ever international conference being held in the Afghan capital in which 70 world leaders, including External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are attending.
The conference is aimed at discussing a major plan to hand over the security and military affairs to the Afghan government in all the 34 provinces by 2014.
Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 July 2010, 06:39 GMT- Search: Kabul airport rocket fire
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had his plane diverted from Kabul airport due to rocket fire.Rocket fire has prevented a plane carrying UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt from landing at Kabul's airport in Afghanistan, the Swedish Government has confirmed.
Bildt's blog, which first reported the incident, said he and Ban landed instead at the US Bagram base, outside Kabul early on Tuesday morning. They then travelled aboard Blackhawk helicopters to an international conference in the capital on Afghanistan's future.
The Swedish politician described how "rockets hit the airport just as we were on our way to land".
Rocket fire prevents Ban, Swedish FM from landing at Kabul
Kabul, Jul 20 (PTI):
Intense rocket barrage prevented a plane carrying UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt from landing at the Kabul airport and the aircraft was forced to be diverted to Bagram air base.
The two dignitaries were arriving in the Afghan capital to attend an International Conference on Afghanistan and the attack was confirmed by the Swedish Foreign Minister on his blog.
"... rockets hit the airport just when we were coming in to land," read the blog posted at 05:30 hrs in the morning (local time).
Officials later confirmed that the flight was diverted to nearby Bagram base from where the two VVIPs were ferried by a Black Hawk helicopter.
"... together we spent a few hours on the giant US Bagram base just north until the situation would become clearer and arranged transportation to Kabul. There were two US Black Hawk, which then took us away," Bildt wrote.
He said, "the Taliban and others would try to disrupt the important conference here was obviously to be reckoned with... Our presence here is a demonstration of our support for peace and stabilisation process in the country".
Ban was to inaugurate the biggest ever international conference being held in the Afghan capital in which 70 world leaders, including External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are attending.
The conference is aimed at discussing a major plan to hand over the security and military affairs to the Afghan government in all the 34 provinces by 2014.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Suicide bomb in Kabul kills at least 3 civilians
Suicide bomb in Kabul kills at least 3 civilians, wounds 40 ahead of international conference
Published July 18, 2010
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bombing near a market in the Afghan capital killed three civilians and wounded dozens Sunday, two days before an international conference hosting representatives from about 60 nations, government officials said.
Eleven other people were killed in insurgent attacks elsewhere across the nation, according to reports Sunday, as the Taliban meet the arrival of thousands more American troops this year with a rising tide of violence.
The Kabul bomber was on foot near a busy market in the city's eastern residential district of Macrorayan and his target was unclear, police official Abdul Ghafor Sayedzada said.
Hospitals reported three civilians killed, including a child, public health official Kabir Amiri said. Health ministry spokesman Ghulam Sakhi Kargar said about 40 people were wounded.
University student Tamim Ahmad said he saw a man on foot run up to a passing convoy of international troops and detonate an explosives-laden vest. Other witnesses said they saw a convoy passing around the time of the attack, but couldn't say if it was the target.
However, Afghan authorities and NATO said no international troops were operating in the area at the time of the attack, which the international force condemned.
"The insurgents have chosen to use violence to gain media attention, once again at the expense of innocent Afghan civilians," said Col. William Maxwell, director of the Combined Joint Operations Center for the NATO-led force.
Security has been tightened across the capital ahead of Tuesday's Kabul Conference, which will be attended by the heads of NATO and the United Nations and top diplomats, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The meeting, nearly nine years after U.S.-backed forces toppled the Taliban's regime of extreme Islamic law for sheltering al-Qaida terrorist leaders, is to discuss the country's reconstruction and eventual handing over of all security to the Afghan government.
Thousands of Afghan police were setting up checkpoints and patrolling Kabul trying to prevent any insurgent attack on the conference.
In May, the Taliban attacked a national peace conference in Kabul with rocket-propelled grenades that landed about 100 yards (meters) from the site of the gathering, and insurgents also waged a gunbattle with police outside the meeting. Three civilians, but no conference delegates, were wounded.
The NATO-led international force is being bolstered by 30,000 more American troops this year, and allied forces say they have captured or killed dozens of Taliban leaders in recent months. However, the added troops and stepped up patrols have not been able to reduce insurgent attacks, which have intensified this year across the country.
The Taliban also staged a brazen jailbreak Sunday in the western province of Farah, where a smuggled bomb exploded at a prison, allowing 11 inmates — including suspected insurgents — to escape, officials said.
A guard died in that blast and one inmate was shot and killed while fleeing, officials said.
The prison blast appeared coordinated with armed insurgent attacks on four police checkpoints on the outskirts of Farah city, said provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Faqir Askir.
"Of course this is the work of the Taliban," Askir said. "We think that the militants were trying to keep authorities busy with the attacks on the checkpoints while the explosion happened."
Askir said that Taliban suspects were among the 11 who escaped. Farah province's deputy governor Yonus Rasouli said the prison held 347 inmates in a building meant for only 86.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi sent a message to reporters Sunday taking responsibility for the jailbreak, saying "all of our mujahedeen" were freed and claiming that 15 prison guards were killed. The insurgents often exaggerate death tolls of their enemies for propaganda purposes.
In the key southern city of Kandahar, where international forces are preparing a push to wrest control of Taliban-dominated areas, two police officers and a civilian died Sunday morning when an operation to clear a road of insurgent bombs accidentally set off an explosion near a hospital, said local police chief Sadar Mohammad Zazai.
Also Sunday, a car bomb exploded near the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan, but killed only the attacker, who was unable to get near either Bagram Air Field or a convoy carrying an international reconstruction team, said Gen. Abdul Rahman Sayedkhail, police chief of Parwan province.
A Taliban spokesman for the area, Zabiullah Majahid, sent a message to reporters claiming the Parwan bomb destroyed two U.S. vehicles and killed 12 Americans.
In the south on Saturday, four Afghan policemen were killed and another was injured when insurgents attacked a checkpoint in Gereshk district of Helmand province, the Afghan Ministry of Interior said Sunday.
The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that one Afghan soldier died and another was wounded in Sabari district of Khost province Saturday after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb.
(This version CORRECTS the name of the health ministry spokesman to Kargar instead of Kargai.)
Published July 18, 2010
Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bombing near a market in the Afghan capital killed three civilians and wounded dozens Sunday, two days before an international conference hosting representatives from about 60 nations, government officials said.
Eleven other people were killed in insurgent attacks elsewhere across the nation, according to reports Sunday, as the Taliban meet the arrival of thousands more American troops this year with a rising tide of violence.
The Kabul bomber was on foot near a busy market in the city's eastern residential district of Macrorayan and his target was unclear, police official Abdul Ghafor Sayedzada said.
Hospitals reported three civilians killed, including a child, public health official Kabir Amiri said. Health ministry spokesman Ghulam Sakhi Kargar said about 40 people were wounded.
University student Tamim Ahmad said he saw a man on foot run up to a passing convoy of international troops and detonate an explosives-laden vest. Other witnesses said they saw a convoy passing around the time of the attack, but couldn't say if it was the target.
However, Afghan authorities and NATO said no international troops were operating in the area at the time of the attack, which the international force condemned.
"The insurgents have chosen to use violence to gain media attention, once again at the expense of innocent Afghan civilians," said Col. William Maxwell, director of the Combined Joint Operations Center for the NATO-led force.
Security has been tightened across the capital ahead of Tuesday's Kabul Conference, which will be attended by the heads of NATO and the United Nations and top diplomats, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The meeting, nearly nine years after U.S.-backed forces toppled the Taliban's regime of extreme Islamic law for sheltering al-Qaida terrorist leaders, is to discuss the country's reconstruction and eventual handing over of all security to the Afghan government.
Thousands of Afghan police were setting up checkpoints and patrolling Kabul trying to prevent any insurgent attack on the conference.
In May, the Taliban attacked a national peace conference in Kabul with rocket-propelled grenades that landed about 100 yards (meters) from the site of the gathering, and insurgents also waged a gunbattle with police outside the meeting. Three civilians, but no conference delegates, were wounded.
The NATO-led international force is being bolstered by 30,000 more American troops this year, and allied forces say they have captured or killed dozens of Taliban leaders in recent months. However, the added troops and stepped up patrols have not been able to reduce insurgent attacks, which have intensified this year across the country.
The Taliban also staged a brazen jailbreak Sunday in the western province of Farah, where a smuggled bomb exploded at a prison, allowing 11 inmates — including suspected insurgents — to escape, officials said.
A guard died in that blast and one inmate was shot and killed while fleeing, officials said.
The prison blast appeared coordinated with armed insurgent attacks on four police checkpoints on the outskirts of Farah city, said provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Faqir Askir.
"Of course this is the work of the Taliban," Askir said. "We think that the militants were trying to keep authorities busy with the attacks on the checkpoints while the explosion happened."
Askir said that Taliban suspects were among the 11 who escaped. Farah province's deputy governor Yonus Rasouli said the prison held 347 inmates in a building meant for only 86.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi sent a message to reporters Sunday taking responsibility for the jailbreak, saying "all of our mujahedeen" were freed and claiming that 15 prison guards were killed. The insurgents often exaggerate death tolls of their enemies for propaganda purposes.
In the key southern city of Kandahar, where international forces are preparing a push to wrest control of Taliban-dominated areas, two police officers and a civilian died Sunday morning when an operation to clear a road of insurgent bombs accidentally set off an explosion near a hospital, said local police chief Sadar Mohammad Zazai.
Also Sunday, a car bomb exploded near the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan, but killed only the attacker, who was unable to get near either Bagram Air Field or a convoy carrying an international reconstruction team, said Gen. Abdul Rahman Sayedkhail, police chief of Parwan province.
A Taliban spokesman for the area, Zabiullah Majahid, sent a message to reporters claiming the Parwan bomb destroyed two U.S. vehicles and killed 12 Americans.
In the south on Saturday, four Afghan policemen were killed and another was injured when insurgents attacked a checkpoint in Gereshk district of Helmand province, the Afghan Ministry of Interior said Sunday.
The Ministry of Defense said Sunday that one Afghan soldier died and another was wounded in Sabari district of Khost province Saturday after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb.
(This version CORRECTS the name of the health ministry spokesman to Kargar instead of Kargai.)
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