You would think that, after ten long and bloody years, there would be little new the Afghan war could offer in terms of brutality. But Tuesday’s twin suicide strikes on Shi’a Muslim processions in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif, leaving 58 dead and more than a hundred wounded, marks an unprecedented insurgent assault on civilians. Never before in the current war have Afghanistan’s Shi’a been deliberately targeted, and rarely has an attack been so completely devoid of a military target.
What do the bombings say about the evolving nature of the Afghan insurgency? Read the rest of this entry »
QALA CHA, Afghanistan — Shershad Muhammad almost didn’t get to vote.
As the 60-year-old baker pedaled his bike toward a polling station in this village on Kabul’s outskirts early Thursday, a group of police officers forced him to dismount, tackled him and nearly arrested him. His offense: carrying a large black bag. It was full of bread to give to election workers, but anxious police mistook the bag for a bomb.
“I decided to give the bread to the police officers instead, and they were happy and let me go,” he said.
Afghans went to the polls for their second presidential election with their country on edge. Those who exercised their democratic rights had to defy Taliban threats and hew closely to the social mores of this conservative Islamic country, which, for one, dictate when and how females leave their homes.
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By Matthew Rosenberg, Anand Gopal and Yochi Dreazen
KABUL — Amid dozens of election-day Taliban attacks that claimed 26 lives, Afghans voted for president Thursday — but reports of low turnout and fraud made it unclear whether bombs or ballots would ultimately emerge the day’s victor.
Counting Ballots
Taliban militants had stepped up attacks for a week and threatened to target polling places with suicide squads to disrupt the vote and force voters to stay home. In the end they managed 73 attacks across the nation amid massive security efforts. The dead included a U.S. soldier and a British soldier.
U.S. and Afghan officials portrayed the day as positive because international troops were never called in to maintain security and there were no major attacks; many of the incidents caused little harm. Still, the violence was expected to result in voter turnout clearly below the 70% registered in the last election five years ago.
Election officials in a number of provinces reported turnout only a fraction that high, and in Taliban strongholds voters reported many polling stations were shuttered. “Everything is closed,” said lawmaker Roshanak Wardak by telephone from the southern province of Wardak. “Right now, I am hiding in my house. There are rockets and explosions outside.”
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Insurgents attacked three government offices in a heavily fortified area Wednesday, a day before US envoy Holbrooke’s visit.
Kabul, Afghanistan - Insurgents attacked three government offices in Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 26 and wounding nearly 60. The assault was one of the most complex and daring to take place in the Afghan capital since 2001.
Five armed militants stormed the Ministry of Justice building, in a crowded section of downtown, killing some workers and taking others hostage. Afghan security forces exchanged gunfire for hours before freeing the hostages and killing all of the insurgents. At the same time, suicide bombers assailed a government prison affairs office in the north of the city, while a gunman opened fire outside the education ministry before being killed by police.
The attacks come as the Obama administration is reviewing US strategy in Afghanistan. US special representative Richard Holbrooke is due to visit Kabul Thursday from Pakistan as part of a South Asian tour, and President Obama is expected to decide within days whether to send as many as 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
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KABUL, Aug 14 (IPS) - It used to take Esmazari 15 minutes to cross town in his faded mustard Corolla. But the police shutdown of nearly half of Kabul’s major arteries, in response to a spate of suicide bombings that ripped across the capital city in recent months, means that today Esmazari’s taxi spends a full hour to make the same trip.
“My business has plummeted because of all these blocked roads,” says the taxi driver, who like many Afghans goes by only one name. “The situation is very bad. The whole city centre is clogged and full of checkpoints.”
The state of high alert following a summer of rising insurgent activity is wearing on Kabul citizens, say observers and residents. Many blame the increased checkpoints and closed roads for falling business, yet at the same time some residents say that the heightened security does not make them feel safe.
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KABUL, Apr 28 (IPS) - Violence levels have increased in Afghanistan in the first quarter of 2008, compared to the first part of 2007, a series of newly-released studies indicate.
On Sunday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped an assassination bid while attending a military parade in Kabul. A member of parliament and a 10-year-old child were among the dead. A spokesman for the Taliban said the fighters wanted to show they can infiltrate such high security events.
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