Oh yeah, about that Afghan War....

Peacekeepers killed in Kabul blast

A car bomb has killed four international peacekeepers and injured dozens of other people in an apparent suicide attack on a bus in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
The force of the explosion threw the vehicle off the road, a few kilometres east of the city centre, near a base used by German and Dutch troops of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

The attack is the deadliest assault on the Isaf force since it arrived in Afghanistan to support the government of Hamid Karzai after the removal of the Taleban.

President Karzai offered his condolences and said the peacekeepers had given their lives for the Afghan people.

Isaf had confirmed that three German soldiers had been killed before the German authorities said a fourth was also dead.

The other 29 peacekeepers on board the bus were injured, at least seven seriously, as were several Afghan civilians who were near the scene of the blast.

US military sources said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, who drove a taxi filled with explosives towards the bus, then blew it up.

The 33 peacekeepers were being driven to the airport to fly home to Germany after a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Afghan war 'far from over'

Stephen Cviic
BBC News

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has been having talks in Afghanistan with President Hamid Karzai. One-and-a-half years after the US and its allies took control, peacekeepers are on the ground but the war is far from over.

Afghanistan today is a patchwork of local fiefdoms, mostly run by former militia leaders or warlords.

These local rulers owe nominal allegiance to the central government in Kabul, but despite this they often behave independently.

Kabul itself is a special case because it is home to President Karzai and to an international peace-keeping force of 5,000 men.

There are real doubts that the Taleban can be fully defeated and local warlords' power broken

In addition to the international peace-keepers, there are a total of 8,000 US troops on the ground in Afghanistan, involved mainly in military operations.

The war in Afghanistan is far from over.

The Taleban have regrouped in rural areas of the south, and there has recently been an upsurge in violence around the city of Kandahar.

Many Western aid workers have left the area in fear for their lives.

So this is the great victory we had in Afghanistan? Yeah, taking over Iraq sure has scared those terrorists.

Steve Gilliard

Posted June 07, 2003 08:31 AM | Comments (45)