Suicide bombers attack NATO base in Afghan east

[unhappycamper]

Suicide bombers attack NATO base in Afghan east
KABUL | Fri Sep 24, 2010 10:23am EDT

KABUL (Reuters) - At least five insurgents were killed when suicide bombers attacked a NATO-run base in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, NATO and Afghan officials said, the latest assault in the volatile Taliban stronghold.

A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the attack was launched on a forward operating base (FOB) in Gardez city in Paktia province, not far from Afghanistan's porous border with Pakistan.

Rising violence and casualties are of deep concern in Washington, where President Barack Obama is due to conduct a strategy review of the increasingly unpopular war in December.

Afghanistan is under renewed scrutiny after last weekend's parliamentary election was hit by violence and widespread claims of fraud, the second flawed poll in 13 months.

The Taliban and other insurgents such as the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network have launched a series of brazen assaults on foreign bases and government buildings in the past year in a bid to topple the government and force out foreign troops.



unhappycamper comment: My take on this attack: It's just the Afghans reminding us that that a) the United States forces and allies are occupiers and b) it's almost time to leave Afghanistan.