Tuesday 20 September 2011

Burhanuddin Rabbani Killed

The chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani, has been killed in a bomb attack at his home in Kabul, Afghan officials confirmed in the last hour. He was meeting two members of the Taliban at his home at the time of the blast, they said. It is unclear if they were involved in the attack.
The High Peace Council leads Afghan efforts to negotiate with the Taliban.
Mr Rabbani is a former president of Afghanistan and also led the main political opposition in the country. Unconfirmed reports say he may have been killed by a suicide attacker.
When the peace council was set up, Afghan President Hamid Karzai described it as the greatest hope for the Afghan people and called on the Taliban to seize the opportunity and help bring peace. But many members of the council are former warlords who spent years fighting the Taliban and their inclusion led to doubts as to whether it could succeed in its mission. Watch out for NATO/ISAF trying to blame it on Haqqanis, a proposition as ridiculous as their blandishments after last week's Kabul attack on the NATO base.

1 comment:

  1. Already blamed on the Haqqanis. I wouldn't say this claim is unwarranted, but this division of Taliban and HN is an overt ploy to minimize the insurgency's overall capacity. U.S. officials keep downplaying assassinations only for the body count to stack up over Karzai's head.

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