The Muhammad-crazed camel-jockeys continue to spread their own form of cancer as they kill yet more innocent people in Afghanistan. As with Iraq most recently and Vietnam 40 years ago, this war in Afghanistan cannot be won; not the way we’re fighting it. All we’re doing is pouring billions of dollars into this sewage pit and getting our young men and women in the military killed. Anyone who believes otherwise needs to have their head pulled out of their ass. TGO
Refer to story below. Source: Reuters
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Gunmen dressed as border police killed at least nine people and wounded more than 70 in an attack on a bank in the main city in Afghanistan’s east on Saturday, witnesses and government officials said.
A Reuters witness reported hearing blasts and said gunfire could still be heard coming from a branch of the Kabulbank, Afghanistan’s top private lender that handles salaries for the Afghan police and armed forces, in Jalalabad city.
Baz Mohammad Sherzad, a senior health official in Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is the capital, said nine deaths had been confirmed so far.
Ahmadzia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the Nangarhar government, said fighting was still going on and that police and civilians were among the casualties. He described the scene as “chaotic.”
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear, although coordinated assaults by insurgents against government buildings and military bases have increased in recent years, especially in eastern provinces near the Pakistan border.
Insurgents often dress in the uniforms of Afghan security forces, or as women, at the start of such attacks.
The Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack, saying three suicide bombers had entered the bank when Afghan security forces were collecting their salaries.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a text message to Reuters that “many” of the security forces were killed and that fighting was continuing.
It is rare for the Taliban to launch complex attacks with robbery as their primary motive.
Violence across Afghanistan last year reached its worst levels since the Taliban were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001, with civilian and military casualties at record levels, despite the presence of about 150,000 foreign troops.
“MY BROTHER WAS KILLED”
“I was inside the bank when seven gunmen in border police uniform attacked,” said a government employee who identified himself only as Salman and was wounded in the attack.
“My brother was killed by them,” he said.
Another witness, Sediqullah Momand, said: “They shot the bank tellers first. I saw dead and wounded people inside the bank.”
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack. He said in a statement released by the palace that three suicide bombers had blown themselves up inside the bank.
Traffic from Jalalabad to the capital, Kabul, was blocked by Afghan police and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force) (ISAF) troops, witnesses said. One man was seen running from the area with his clothes covered in blood.
An ISAF spokesman in Kabul said the coalition was aware of an incident in Jalalabad and was investigating.
Politically well-connected Kabulbank, Afghanistan’s top private lender, is mired in a corruption scandal that could have grave political consequences for Karzai and his government.
The International Monetary Fund has painted a grim picture of the government’s handling of the crisis, in which hundreds of millions of dollars have been put at risk through mismanagement, fraud and bad loans, and is considering whether to renew its support for Afghanistan.
That would trigger a review of other commitments by international donors, who provide billions of dollars a year in aid to Afghanistan.
The growing bank crisis is especially worrying because it coincides with efforts by foreign forces to begin the gradual process of withdrawing their troops and handing security responsibility to Afghan forces by 2014.
(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Paul Tait and Andrew Marshall)
