Explosion targets Afghan capital

[Heidi]

Source: BBC

Page last updated at 04:43 GMT, Saturday, 15 August 2009 05:43 UK

A large explosion has been heard in central Kabul, officials in the Afghan capital say.

It reportedly occurred near a Nato base in the city's diplomatic quarter. There has been no immediate word on any casualties caused.

The explosion comes less than a week before the country stages presidential and provincial elections.

Taliban insurgents have vowed to disrupt the elections and have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8202758.stm

[hedgehog]

1. This is so sad. People half a world away have just have their

lives changed forever.

[RamboLiberal]

2. Bomb explodes at NATO headquarters in Kabul

Source: MSNBC/AP

KABUL - A suicide car bomb exploded near the main gate of NATO's headquarters in the Afghan capital early Saturday, killing and wounding an unknown number of people, an official said.

Bloodied and dazed Afghans wandered the street after the massive blast. Children — many of whom congregate outside the NATO gate to sell gum to Westerners, were among the wounded.

NATO's headquarters is on the same street as the U.S. Embassy and presidential palace. Afghanistan's Transportation Ministry lies across the street.

Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a U.S. spokeswoman for the NATO-led mission, said the explosion occurred near the gate of NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

Several vehicles were destroyed at the site of the blast, said Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense. He said an unknown number of people were killed and wounded, adding he feared the toll would be high.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32426033/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

3 die, 70 wounded in blast near NATO HQ in Kabul

KABUL (AP) -- Afghanistan's Defense Ministry spokesman says a suicide car bomb explosion in the Afghan capital has killed three civilians and wounded 70.

The blast occurred near the main gate of NATO's headquarters but it appeared protective barriers limited the damage to the NATO mission.

Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi says three civilians have been killed and 70 wounded in the blast.

A Taliban spokesman has claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to The Associated Press and said the bomb contained 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) of explosives.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHAN_EXPLOSION?SITE=PAPIT&SECTION=NATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Heidi]

3. UPDATE | Reuters: Taliban claim suicide strike on NATO compund in Kabul

Sat Aug 15, 2009 1:32am EDT

KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb in front of the heavily fortified headquarters of U.S. and NATO troops in Kabul on Saturday, saying the target was the U.S. embassy nearby.

"The target was the U.S. embassy, but we could not reach it. The suicide car bomber exploded near the ISAF headquarters and killed several foreign troops," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, referring to the International Security Assistance Force.

Read more

[global1]

4. Really - Why Are We There?.......

Why don't we get the hell out of Afghanistan? Seems that this front is escalating. We've ramped up the troop numbers there and we'll probably send more. For what? Who or what are we protecting? If this troop ramp up occurred under BushCo - we'd be up in arms here at DU. I don't see the same anti-war sentiment here now that I did under BushCo. I don't see posts here with the totals number of troops killed there. We used to see this on a daily basis here under BushCo - what legitimizes this war now? What am I missing?

I know that President Obama said we should have kept our eye on the ball and not go into Iraq. But I really haven's seen any major troop draw downs in Iraq either as of yet. What's going on?

[ohio2007]

7. They like the way you think

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/14/afghanistan-womens-rights-rape

Afterall, many will argue the links counterpoint as being;
We gave up "the moral highground" long ago.

[EVDebs]

13. In the paper today Obama says something about Afganistan's strategic location (oil/gas pipelines?)

Walter Pincus, who normally I'd have brought up on accessory to murder charges (regarding Gary Webb), actually has a good article on the situation in Afganistan, from yesterday's WaPost, although written as though these budget and troop numbers are certain to happen, a fait accompli :

Analysts Expect Long-Term, Costly U.S. Campaign in Afghanistan

by Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 9, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/08/AR2009080802283.html?hpid=topnews

"As the Obama administration expands U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, military experts are warning that the United States is taking on security and political commitments that will last at least a decade and a cost that will probably eclipse that of the Iraq war."

This merely underlines the quote by Chalmers Johnson, "When war becomes that profitable you are going to see more of it", see

Interview with Chalmers Johnson
Part 1. An Empire of More Than 725 Military Bases
http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/global/cj_int/cj_int1.html

and makes the movie War, Inc. that much more prophetic.

"But I (Chalmers Johnson) myself do not see how any president -- George Bush, John Kerry, or any other person -- can stand up to the Pentagon, the secret intelligence agencies, and the military-industrial complex today, if for no other reason than that 40% of the defense budget is secret and all of the intelligence agencies’ budgets are secret. This makes it impossible for a member of Congress to get the necessary information to do oversight even if he or she wanted to."

We all thought Obama was smarter than W. But like JFK, the analysts and CIA planners have it all mapped out in advance and in secret; the country's course is set on autopilot since the '70s DoD plans to seize Saudi (now Iraqi) oil fields. It's always been "stay until 2013" no matter what happens.

We're going to have to march on DC, like the old Bonus Army March on Washington in 1932 apparently -- and pray to God the GOP doesn't try to usurp the march for their own non-progressive purposes-- in order to end the war madness once and for all.

That's what it's going to take.

[EVDebs]

14. Chalmers Johnson lays it all out...

We Are Going to Lose the War in Afghanistan and It Will Help Bankrupt Us (scroll down to see item #2)
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175101/chalmers_johnson_dismantling_the_empire

[Arrowhead2k1]

5. This is quickly turning into Obama's Iraq.

Except I think the chances of eventually establishing a stable gorvernment are slim. We need to come up with a realistic exit strategy or else things will just get much worse for a very long time.

[EVDebs]

12. Obama must have a secret deal to protect Cheney's Pakistan project

How DID BrewsterJennings get outed in the first place ?

This :

According to Bob Woodward, we're not to worry:

"When the story comes out I'm quite confident we're going to find out that it started kind of as gossip, as chatter. And that somebody learned that Joe Wilson's wife had worked at the CIA and helped him get this job going to Niger to see if there was an Iraq/Niger uranium deal. And, there's a lot of innocent actions in all of this."

Or this:

"So is it possible that the neo-crazies were really out to discredit not Joe Wilson, but the CIA covert counter-proliferation operation? Especially Brewster Jennings & Associates?

But why?"

Maybe this explains it, the US is managing Pakistan's nuclear program for them, and wanted to keep this a secret as long as possible,

How the U.S. Has Secretly Backed Pakistan's Nuclear Program From Day One
by Andrew Cockburn, June 4, 2009
http://www.counterpunch.org/andrew06242009.html

"“Most of the aid we’ve sent them over the past few years has been diverted into their nuclear program,” a senior national security official in the current administration recently told me. Most of this diverted aid -- $5.56 billion as of a year ago – was officially designated “Coalition Support Funds” for Pakistani military operations against the Taliban. It may be that this diversion came as a terrible shock to Washington, but the money has been routinely handed over essentially without accounting being required from the Pakistanis. The GAO has huffed at items such as the $30 million shelled out for non-existent roads, of the $1.5 million for “naval vehicles damaged in combat” but that was as far as public complaints went. In the meantime, as Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mullen confirmed recently, the Pakistanis have been urgently increasing their nuclear weapons production.

A former national security official with knowledge of the policy explained this insouciance to me. “We want to get in there and manage . If we manage it, we can make sure they don’t start testing, or start a war.” In other words, the U.S. is helping the Pakistanis to modernize their nuclear arsenal in hopes that the U.S. will thereby gain a measure of control. The official aim of U.S. technical support, at an estimated cost of $100 million a year, is to render the Pakistani weapons safer, i.e., less likely to go off if dropped, and more “secure”, meaning out of the reach of our old friends the extremists."

This ultimately leads to the question, what did Cheney extract in the way of concessions from Obama in order to keep this quiet ?

[EVDebs]

15. See post #14 nt

[ohio2007]

6. At least the Taliban agreed to a cease fire on election day...

They already are influencing Afghan lawmakers;

Afghanistan passes 'barbaric' law :

allows husbands to deny wives food if they fail to obey sexual demands

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/14/afghanistan-womens-rights-rape

I'm sure it's just an exaggeration of the truth. They say these women prefer the ways of Taliban thought control.
dunno

[laststeamtrain]

8. 7 die, 91 wounded in blast near NATO HQ in Kabul

Source: AP

7 die, 91 wounded in blast near NATO HQ in Kabul
By RAHIM FAIEZ and JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writers 29 mins ago

KABUL – A suicide car bomb exploded Saturday outside the main gate of NATO's headquarters five days before Afghanistan's presidential election, killing seven and wounding 91 in the biggest attack in the Afghan capital in six months.

The bomber evaded several rings of Afghan police and detonated his explosives on the doorstep of the international military headquarters, an assault possibly aimed at sending the message that the Taliban can attack anywhere as Afghans gear up for their second-ever direct presidential election. Militants have warned Afghans not to vote and have threatened to attack voting sites.

The NATO headquarters — where top commander U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal is based — sits beside the U.S. Embassy and shares the same street as the presidential palace. The explosion was the first major attack in Kabul since February, when eight Taliban militants struck three government buildings simultaneously in the heart of the city, an assault that killed 20 people and the eight assailants.

Afghanistan has braced for attacks ahead of the election. International workers in the country were planning on working from home over the next week or had been encouraged to leave the country. U.S., NATO and Afghan troops were working to protect voting sites, particularly in regions where militants hold sway.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090815/ap_on_re_as/as_afghan_explosion

[SpiralHawk]

9. Oh oh

deep doo doo.

[Solly Mack]

10. K&R

:(

[laststeamtrain]

11. K & R - n/t.

[laststeamtrain]

16. McClatchy Newspapers: How did a suicide bomber get to Kabul's NATO headquarters?

How did a suicide bomber get to Kabul's NATO headquarters?
Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: August 15, 2009 05:02:48 PM

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan authorities are trying to determine how a suicide bomber breached tight security in Kabul's diplomatic quarter on Saturday and detonated an SUV packed with explosives in front of NATO headquarters five days before the presidential election.

At least seven people died and 91 others were injured by the explosion, according to a Defense Ministry statement.

The blast underscored the Taliban's ability to mount attacks in the heart of the Afghan capital despite stringent measures that the government and NATO say they are taking to safeguard Thursday's vote.

U.S. Navy Lt. Todd Vician, a spokesman for the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force, said that a "handful" of ISAF troops were among those injured, but he declined to identify their nationality. Soldiers from Macedonia, along with Afghan police, handle security at the steel-gated ISAF headquarters entrance.

The wounded also included four Afghan soldiers and Awa Alam Nuristani, a member of parliament and head of President Hamid Karzai's campaign for women, the Defense Ministry said.

Taliban spokesmen took responsibility for the attack in calls to news agencies. It was the first major assault in Kabul since Feb. 28, when 28 people died after insurgents stormed into the Justice Ministry and two other government buildings.

<more>

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/73798.html