Suicide attacks kill four Afghans as NATO meets

More camel jockeys, made crazy by their Islamic faith, blew themselves up and killed innocent people today, including a woman and child. The power of religious belief (faith) never seizes to amaze me. TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press

by Waheedullah Massoud Waheedullah Massoud

KABUL (AFP) – Suicide bombers killed four Afghans on Saturday, as NATO pledged to start pulling forces off the battlefield next year and amid calls for the alliance to shore up more grassroots support for its mission.

In the first attack, a man, woman and child were killed and 25 others wounded when a suicide bomber on a bicycle blew himself up near the public health directorate in the capital of eastern Laghman province, Mihtarlam.

A second suicide attack happened a few minutes later in the Serahi Alishang area of the city, killing one man and injuring eight others, the interior ministry said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks and said six police officers and five intelligence agents were killed and two police vehicles were destroyed, although the group regularly inflates casualty figures.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force described the attacks as “reprehensible” while President Hamid Karzai, in Portugal for the alliance’s annual summit, called the perpetrators “the enemies of Islam and Afghanistan”.

“Afghanistan cannot have peace and prosperity until Afghan extremists quit murdering Afghan citizens,” ISAF said in a statement.

Civilian casualties are at their highest since the start of the US-led invasion to oust the hardline Taliban from power in late 2001, according to the United Nations.

The world body said in its six-monthly update in August that the number of ordinary Afghans killed in the conflict rose by a third in the first six months of 2010 to 1,271, with most deaths caused by insurgent attacks.

ISAF said on Saturday that insurgents have killed 229 civilians and wounded 694 others in the east of the country since the start of this year.

Domestic and international aid agencies this week urged NATO leaders to do more to protect civilians, as responsibility for securing the war-torn nation passes to the Afghan police and military.

NATO and the Afghan government on Saturday endorsed a plan to begin the handover next year, with the aim of ceding full control to the Afghan authorities by the end of 2014.

The exit strategy comes after a new poll found that more Americans now oppose the war in Afghanistan than support it, with backing also fading in other NATO member states.

Research published late Friday by the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) think tank suggested that NATO also needs to do more to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Afghans.

The survey, conducted last month, indicated that 92 percent of the 1,000 respondents in the two southern states that have witnessed the fiercest fighting, Helmand and Kandahar, were unaware of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The US-led invasion that year was prompted by the Taliban’s refusal to give up Al-Qaeda leaders who claimed responsibility for the attacks and who were living in Afghanistan at the time.

Elsewhere, the survey suggested that 40 percent of people in the south believe foreign troops want to destroy Islam or to occupy or destroy the country.

A total of 42 percent of a further 500 men questioned in northern Parwan and Panjshir provinces were unable to name positive aspects of democracy.

“We need to explain to the Afghan people why we are here and both show and convince them that their future is better with us than with the Taliban,” said ICOS president Norine MacDonald.

The survey also painted a gloomy picture for the prospect of peace after the handover of powers, with a majority (61 percent) in Helmand and Kandahar doubtful that the Afghan police and military were up to the job.

More than three-quarters (81 percent), meanwhile, said they believed Al-Qaeda would return if the Taliban regained power and use Afghanistan to launch attacks on the West.

About The Great One

Am interested in science and philosophy as well as sports; cycling and tennis. Enjoy reading, writing, playing chess, collecting Spyderco knives and fountain pens.
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