Afghanistan suicide attack: UK embassy car targeted in Kabul
Subscribe for the latest news from PA: http://bit.ly/RvMVLq A British Embassy vehicle has been attacked in Afghanistan, leaving a number of staff injured. The vehicle was hit by an explosion...
By: Press Association
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Afghanistan suicide attack: UK embassy car targeted in Kabul - Video
KABUL , Afghanistan, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- A British Embassy vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan, was struck by a suicide bomber Thursday, leaving at least six people dead and 30 injured.
The four-wheel-drive vehicle was on a busy road in the city's diplomatic quarter when the blast occurred, destroying several other vehicles. The attacker's car, a Toyota Corolla, exploded about three miles from the British Embassy, and debris was sprayed across a large and crowded area. Earlier, Afghan officials had said the bomber was riding a motorcycle.
The Taliban, which has recently targeted foreign officials in Kabul, took responsibility for the incident, the local Pajhwok news agency said..
An unidentified member of the British Embassy's security team died, and another British national was injured. The Afghan Interior Ministry said Afghan bystanders were killed and at least five children were injured. The United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary, Phillip Hammond, said it a statement it was an "appalling attack on innocent civilians."
The incident occurred on a road between the cities of Jalalabad and Kabul, an important corridor of embassies and military bases and the scene of numerous attacks by insurgents. Earlier in November a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle outside a nearby United Nations compound, and recently two U.S. soldiers were killed on the road by a remotely exploded device.
Thursday's attack came a week before a major conference in London on Afghanistan for international donors which the British Prime Minister's office called "a platform for the government of Afghanistan to set out its vision for reform."
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At least six killed in Afghanistan car bombing
When thousands of foreign troops pull out of Afghanistan, they will take their services, experience, hardware and dollars with them. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
It would be a challenge for any leader: balance the books after years of systemic corruption, battle a resurgent rebellion and form a government despite entrenched ethnic divisions. But Afghans new president, Ashraf Ghani, must do all this as thousands of foreign troops pull out, taking their services, experience, hardware and dollars with them.
Ghanis most pressing task at a summit with international donors in London on 3-4 December may be to make sure the world does not forget Afghanistan once foreign soldiers are no longer fighting on its soil.
Nato troops are due to withdraw from Afghanistan by 31 December. From a peak of around 140,000 in 2011, the force will shrink to 12,000 soldiers, who will stay mainly to train Afghan security forces.
The withdrawal leaves Afghanistan more vulnerable to Taliban insurgents, who have been gaining ground this year, and deprives the economy of the benefits of having tens of thousands of foreign troops stationed in the country.
The Afghan economy is a war bubble and we are seeing it slowly deflate, says Graeme Smith, senior analyst at International Crisis Group. He says the budget deficit was $300m-750m, with security costs eating up around $650m of the governments meagre funds.
If the Afghans were not paying that to fight the war which, to be frank, we started, then most of these budgetary pressures would disappear overnight, he says. While were putting Afghanistan through these shocking political and military transitions, it behoves us to try to ease the economic transition, to smooth the way with some cash.
However, many international partners are disillusioned after 13 years of rampant administrative corruption. Although Ghani represents a new start after Hamid Karzais discredited presidency, it is not clear yet whether this will be enough to guarantee continued, long-term financial support.
At the London conference, Afghanistan and its international partners are meant to review progress against the 2012 Tokyo mutual accountability framework, which includes commitments on governance, democracy, finance and rights.
Omar Samad, a former Afghan ambassador to France and Canada, says Ghani may want to recast some of these commitments to try to make aid more effective and accountable.
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Afghanistan: what will happen when the troops and their dollars depart?
A British national was among five people who were killed on Thursday in a suicide attack on an embassy vehicle in Kabul. (AP)
KABUL, Afghanistan A suicide bomber attacked a British Embassy vehicle in the eastern part of the Afghan capital Thursday, killing at least five and injuring more than 30, according to law enforcement officials.
Its the latest in a spate of assaults targeting foreigners as most U.S. and international troops are preparing to withdraw by the end of the year.
Authorities said the attacker detonated a car filled with explosives near the British vehicle, killing one British citizen and four Afghans.
Britains Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in statement that a British citizen belonging to the embassys civilian security team and an Afghan working for the embassy were killed in the attack. A second British member of the security team was injured.
I condemn this appalling attack on innocent civilians supporting our diplomatic activity, the statement said. This outrage brings home to us once again the courage and perseverance of the people of Afghanistan and members of the international community who support them, who have lived together through decades of conflict.
The attack unfolded around 10 a.m.
I heard a huge blast, said Mohammad Omar, an Afghan guard working for a construction company with an office near the scene of the bombing. I was dazed, but a few minutes later I saw three cars destroyed and many people wounded.
The Taliban Islamist insurgency claimed responsibility for the attack, as it has for other bombings that have rocked the capital in recent weeks. In a tweet, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that the martyrdom attack targeted foreign invaders.
The explosion was heard miles away in other parts of Kabul, and black smoke rose from the scene, which was about a mile from the bases where foreign contractors live.
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