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Multiple Taliban attacks in Afghanistan

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Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers have attacked buildings in the heart of the Afghan capital, Kabul, setting off explosions and sparking gun battles. Fighting erupted near the Serena Hotel and the presidential palace, although Afghan President Hamid Karzai says security has now been restored. The Taliban said 20 of its fighters had taken part in the attack on Kabul. The World’s Matthew Bell reports on the implications of the brazen Taliban attack. Download MP3

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MARCO WERMAN: In Afghanistan today the Taliban staged an audacious assault on the capital Kabul.  Shortly before 10:00 a.m. militants armed with guns, grenades and explosive vests waged a battle with Afghan security forces.  The fighting went on for nearly five hours.  As The World’s Matthew Bell reports the timing and the location of the attack doesn’t bode well for the government of Hamid Karzai.

MATTHEW BELL: The attack took place near government buildings and a new shopping center.  The mayhem unfolded less than 200 yards from the Presidential Palace itself.  It appeared to be a coordinated assault by seven attackers timed to coincide with the swearing in ceremony for members of the Afghan cabinet.  At one point a suicide attacker driving an ambulance blew himself near the Ministry of Education.  Groups of gunmen in different locations kept Afghan security forces at bay for several hours.  The damage to the area was extensive, but Afghan authorities said only 12 people including the seven attackers were killed.  More than 70 people were said to be wounded.  The Taliban claimed responsibility for today’s attack.  Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke as the situation was still being brought under control.

HAMID KARZAI: [AFGHANI]

BELL: Karzai said he was taking part in the swearing in ceremony for his cabinet when the terrorist attack broke out near the palace.  He said this is just one example of the dangers facing his country.  A spokesman from the Afghan Ministry of Defense said today it was a point of pride that Afghan Army, Police and Intelligence forces put an end to the attack.  That was less reassuring however to Shukria Barakzai, a member of the Afghan Parliament.  She criticized international forces for not helping more.

SHUKRIA BARAKZAI: It shows that still we are not really cooperating well with each other.

MATTHEW: The US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrook had been visiting Afghanistan.  He commented about today’s attack from the Indian capital New Delhi.

RICHARD HOLBROOK: It’s not surprising that the Taliban do this sort of thing.  They’re desperate people, they’re ruthless.  The people who are doing this certainly will not survive the attack, nor will they succeed.  But we can expect this sort of thing on a regular basis.  That is who the Taliban are.

MATTHEW: The Afghan government is preparing for an international donors conference at the end of the month in London and one idea it’s putting forward there is a new plan to entice members of the Taliban to lay down their weapons in exchange for job security and other benefits.  Today’s attack might be seen at least in part as a Taliban rejection of that offer.  James Dobbins of the Rand Corporation is a former US Special Envoy to Afghanistan.  He says the new plan to win over Taliban fighters is unlikely to yield big results, at least in the near term.

JAMES DOBBINS: There has been a program to rehabilitate insurgents for some time, and some insurgents have come over under that program.  But it’s generally deemed to have been inadequate.  And so this is an effort to step it up.  But basically the insurgents aren’t going to be seriously ready to accommodate in any numbers as long as they think they’re winning.  And at the moment they think they’re winning.  So I think it’s going to have more effect if there is a reversal of fortunes and if they begin to think they’re losing.

MATTHEW: Today’s brazen attack in central Kabul also comes as the US and its NATO partners begin sending about 37,000 more troops to Afghanistan.  For The World I’m Matthew Bell.

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