Word: kabul
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...suicide bomber struck the Afghan capital today, killing two, injuring four, and highlighting once again the devastating decline in security that has wracked Kabul over the past year. Windows shattered under the force of the explosion across the tony district of Wazir Akbar Khan, home to several embassies and foreign aid agencies. The bomber, who rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of armored land cruisers taking foreign forces through the neighborhood, appeared to be targeting U.S.-led coalition soldiers. His vehicle was completely incinerated; all that remained was a charred gasoline engine. Two of the three land cruisers...
...killing at least 35 Afghan National Army soldiers. But it came a day after a bomb planted on a little-used road on the fringes of the capital exploded, killing four. And on Saturday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the town of Paghman, 15 miles outside Kabul, in an attack on Italian military engineers building a footbridge. One soldier and eight Afghans were killed in that attack, including three children. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for all three of the past four days' bombings...
...years after their ouster, the Taliban once again seem to be gaining a foothold, terrorizing the city they once controlled. "If the foreigners cannot do their job, then their existence is not appropriate any more," says Saboor. "They are not helping, so they should leave." For now, few in Kabul share Saboor's sentiments. But as deaths from suicide bombers mount, so will frustration, and coalition forces will face yet another challenge in trying to stabilize Afghanistan...
...ISSUES The War on Terror is key to American policy on Pakistan, which has gladly accepted $10 billion in aid from Washington since the 2001 attacks. In the years after 9/11, after the overthrow of the regime in Kabul, al-Qaeda and the Taliban have regrouped in the mountainous region along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. The area, often described as lawless, has long been controlled by fiercely conservative tribes that run their own semi-autonomous administration. Over the past few years foreign and local militants have grown stronger. Last year, after failing to quash the insurgency militarily, the Pakistani...
...they have faithfully served Pakistan, but since 9/11 their loyalty has been sorely tested. Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban are holed up in Pashtunistan, on both sides of the remote, mountainous, impenetrable Pakistan-Afghan border - the rear base they use to wage jihad on Islamabad and Kabul. Al-Qaeda has at least the implicit support of the local Pashtuns, and, inevitably, Pashtuns are dying, both at our hands and the Pakistan army's. It has to be taking a toll on the loyalties of Pashtuns in Pakistan's army...