Bhushan
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Kabul attacks aim to show Taliban strength, target India
KABUL: Friday's deadly suicide attack on two guesthouses in the Afghan capital showed the Taliban were still defiant despite recent military setbacks and the arrest of senior leaders, analysts said.
The attacks, which killed 16 people including Westerners and Indians in central Kabul, also highlighted India as a target for the militants, they said.
The militia, which has been waging a bitter insurgency against the US-backed Afghan government and more than 121,000 foreign troops based in the country, claimed responsibility for the attack.
India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna confirmed that nine Indians, including government officials, were killed in the raids.
This is the third attack on Indian officials and interests in Afghanistan in the past 20 months, he said, referring to two previous car-bomb attacks on its embassy in Kabul.
These barbaric attacks are...the handiwork of those who are desperate to undermine the friendship between India and Afghanistan, he said, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.
A French film director and an Italian government adviser, along with three Afghan police officers and two others who have yet to be identified by nationality were also killed.
It was the first attack on the Afghan capital since February 13, when a major US-led military operation was launched in southern Helmand province to clear the Taliban out of one their drug-producing strongholds.
The Kabul attack also comes after the arrest of a number of senior Taliban leaders in Pakistan, in what appears to be a cooperative effort between the Pakistan and US governments to break the back of the movement.
Operation Mushtarak, involving 15,000 US, Nato and Afghan troops led by US Marines, was winding down Saturday after control of the Marjah area was handed over to civilian authorities Thursday.
The military phase is the first in a broader plan to follow up battlefield success with the re-establishment of Afghan sovereignty and civilian services including police, hospitals, schools and commercial activity.
US and Afghan officials say the 12- to 18-month plan will spread to other Taliban bastions in Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar. The insurgency now in its ninth year has been concentrated in these two southern provinces.
The Kabul attack yesterday was basically sending a clear message, calculated to show their presence and strength despite the arrests in Pakistan and the assault in Marjah, said political analyst Wadir Safi.
By attacking these targets, they show the Taliban are...able to strike even at the heart of the capital, to show they are still there and are strong, he said.
An Indian embassy official told AFP that India was 100 per cent the target of the militant attack.
They wanted to kill all the Indians inside the guesthouse, he said of the attackers, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Afghanistan had become a proxy battleground between India and Pakistan, he said, linking the timing of the attack to talks this week between the foreign ministers of the two South Asian rivals.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao sat down with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in New Delhi on Thursday for the first official talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks prompted India to suspend dialogue.
Since a US-led invasion ended the Taliban's 1996-2001 regime, India has committed 1.2 billion dollars to Afghanistan, mainly aid for social services including health and education.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, when visiting Washington last November, signed a joint statement with US President Barack Obama pledging to enhance cooperation to root out extremists in Afghanistan.
Obama and Singh voiced their shared interest in the stability, development and independence of Afghanistan and in the defeat of terrorist safe havens in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
But Pakistan appears to resent India's growing influence in the region, fearful of being trapped between hostile nations.
Army chief Ashfaq Kayani told US national security adviser Jim Jones last November that India's role in Afghanistan was counterproductive in the war on terror, Pakistan's The Nation newspaper reported.
KABUL: Friday's deadly suicide attack on two guesthouses in the Afghan capital showed the Taliban were still defiant despite recent military setbacks and the arrest of senior leaders, analysts said.
The attacks, which killed 16 people including Westerners and Indians in central Kabul, also highlighted India as a target for the militants, they said.
The militia, which has been waging a bitter insurgency against the US-backed Afghan government and more than 121,000 foreign troops based in the country, claimed responsibility for the attack.
India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna confirmed that nine Indians, including government officials, were killed in the raids.
This is the third attack on Indian officials and interests in Afghanistan in the past 20 months, he said, referring to two previous car-bomb attacks on its embassy in Kabul.
These barbaric attacks are...the handiwork of those who are desperate to undermine the friendship between India and Afghanistan, he said, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.
A French film director and an Italian government adviser, along with three Afghan police officers and two others who have yet to be identified by nationality were also killed.
It was the first attack on the Afghan capital since February 13, when a major US-led military operation was launched in southern Helmand province to clear the Taliban out of one their drug-producing strongholds.
The Kabul attack also comes after the arrest of a number of senior Taliban leaders in Pakistan, in what appears to be a cooperative effort between the Pakistan and US governments to break the back of the movement.
Operation Mushtarak, involving 15,000 US, Nato and Afghan troops led by US Marines, was winding down Saturday after control of the Marjah area was handed over to civilian authorities Thursday.
The military phase is the first in a broader plan to follow up battlefield success with the re-establishment of Afghan sovereignty and civilian services including police, hospitals, schools and commercial activity.
US and Afghan officials say the 12- to 18-month plan will spread to other Taliban bastions in Helmand and neighbouring Kandahar. The insurgency now in its ninth year has been concentrated in these two southern provinces.
The Kabul attack yesterday was basically sending a clear message, calculated to show their presence and strength despite the arrests in Pakistan and the assault in Marjah, said political analyst Wadir Safi.
By attacking these targets, they show the Taliban are...able to strike even at the heart of the capital, to show they are still there and are strong, he said.
An Indian embassy official told AFP that India was 100 per cent the target of the militant attack.
They wanted to kill all the Indians inside the guesthouse, he said of the attackers, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Afghanistan had become a proxy battleground between India and Pakistan, he said, linking the timing of the attack to talks this week between the foreign ministers of the two South Asian rivals.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao sat down with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in New Delhi on Thursday for the first official talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks prompted India to suspend dialogue.
Since a US-led invasion ended the Taliban's 1996-2001 regime, India has committed 1.2 billion dollars to Afghanistan, mainly aid for social services including health and education.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, when visiting Washington last November, signed a joint statement with US President Barack Obama pledging to enhance cooperation to root out extremists in Afghanistan.
Obama and Singh voiced their shared interest in the stability, development and independence of Afghanistan and in the defeat of terrorist safe havens in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
But Pakistan appears to resent India's growing influence in the region, fearful of being trapped between hostile nations.
Army chief Ashfaq Kayani told US national security adviser Jim Jones last November that India's role in Afghanistan was counterproductive in the war on terror, Pakistan's The Nation newspaper reported.
