Afghanistan Pins Bombings On Foreigners

Officials Refrain From Blaming Pakistan For Indian Embassy Bombing In Kabul

(AP)  Afghan officials have evidence that foreigners were behind a massive suicide bombing against India's embassy in Kabul, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said Tuesday, implying that Pakistan orchestrated the attack.

The spokesman, Humayun Hamidzada, did not name Pakistan's intelligence agency but told reporters it was "pretty obvious" who was behind Monday's bombing, which killed 41 people and wounded 150.

An Afghan security report released earlier Tuesday found that the bombing could not have succeeded without the support of foreign intelligence agencies, another reference to Pakistan, India's archrival.

"The sophistication of this attack, and the kind of material that was used and the specific targeting, everything has the hallmark of a particular intelligence agency that has conducted similar attacks inside Afghanistan in the past. We have sufficient evidence to say that," Hamidzada said. "The project was designed outside Afghanistan. It was exported to Afghanistan."

Among the blast's victims were four Indians working in the embassy, including the military attache and a diplomat.

Pakistan's prime minister denied Tuesday that its intelligence service was behind the attack. Speaking in Malaysia, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said his country has no interest in destabilizing Afghanistan when both countries are fighting terrorism.

"We want stability in the region. We ourselves are a victim of terrorism and extremism," said Gilani on the sidelines of a summit of eight developing Islamic nations. He did not elaborate.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood condemned the attack on Monday, but Gilani's comment is the first high-level denial of involvement by the government.

Also on Tuesday, Afghanistan summoned the charge d'affair of the Pakistan Embassy to Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry over comments made by a former Pakistan member of parliament mentioning the need for jihad against U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan often accuses Pakistani intelligence of supporting the Taliban insurgency, a charge denied by Islamabad.

The bodies of the four Indians killed in the attack were flown back home late Monday aboard an Indian military plane, said Gen. Ahmad Zia Aftali, the head of Kabul's main military hospital.

Senior Afghan government officials were at the airport, including Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and President Hamid Karzai's national security adviser Zalmay Rasoul, Aftali said.

Karzai condemned the bombing Monday and said it was carried out by militants trying to rupture the Afghan-India friendship. He told the Indian prime minister during a phone conversation that Afghanistan would do all it could do identify the attackers.

The blast was the deadliest in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Suspicion of Pakistan's involvement runs deep in the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan - Pakistani intelligence helped create the Taliban militia, many of whose leaders and recruits studied at religious schools in Pakistan.

Despite international condemnation of the Taliban regime's fundamentalist rule in Afghanistan from 1996-2001, Pakistan was one of the few countries that gave it diplomatic recognition.

Pakistan formally abandoned its support for the Taliban after Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Still, Taliban leaders are suspected of getting continued shelter and support in Pakistan, and maintaining links with the Pakistani intelligence agency.

Meanwhile, Pakistan views with suspicion the involvement of its longtime rival India in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

India has donated millions of dollars to Afghanistan for reconstruction, and there are thousands of Indian engineers and laborers in the country helping to build roads and other infrastructure.

Pakistanis are wary of Indian consulates established in the outlying cities of Kandahar, Jalalabad, Herat, and Mazar-i-Sharif. But Indian officials say they are there to support reconstruction. Militants have frequently attacked Indian offices and projects around Afghanistan.

Ikram Sehgal, a political analyst in Pakistan, said he doubted Pakistan's intelligence service was behind the attack. He said a more likely culprit is the Pashtuns - the largest of Afghan ethnic groups that also forms the core of the Taliban insurgency - saying they see the Indians as "enemies."

[xmanborg]

Whatever blame somebody else.

[bladan58z]

Bin Laden''s murderous attack in Kabul was not the work of the Pakistan Government. No one should believe Osama''s propaganda. Bin Laden has been at large for too long. Coalition Surgeons must have Bin Laden for a full frontal lobotomy so he can stand trial for felonies against humanity.

[brianbwb-2009]

"Every day we read about the carange and savagery of Muslim extremists, yet some still deny they are for real. Some still blame America for these daily attrocities, unbelievable!" Posted by notblue

The problem is that you are reading the same sources that helped spread the WMD lies. Most of us don''t believe them anymore, and with good reason.

Of course they are not real, they are being paid (your money, btw) to be the boogie man, so the war mongers can extend their profit-making misdeeds.

[brianbwb-2009]

''Officials Refrain From Blaming Pakistan For Indian Embassy Bombing In Kabul"

Probably because it is the CIA, not Pakistan, calling the shots, and the Afghans know it.

[vortex1011]

Par for the course - KArzai **** up and blames everyone else for his ***-ups

No wonder the americans love that drooling pile of *** - just like them, he nevers takes responsibility for his ***-ups

[notblue]

Every day we read about the carange and savagery of Muslim extremists, yet some still deny they are for real. Some still blame America for these daily attrocities, unbelievable!

[gangesdak]

It is ISI of Pakistan all the way. It is amazing that the "intellengent" people is the State Department still thinks that Pakistan can bail USA out of terrorism. With all the devastation from 9-11 and its Pakistan connections, State Department still relies on Pakistan! More to come.

[bladan58z]

Bin Laden ordered the murders of those people in Kabul. The killing will continue until Osama is apprehended. He must be captured and pacified by the Afghani Government. The Coalition should convene a war crimes trial when Bin Laden and his henchmen are brought to justice.

[skyk-2009]

You sure can see what the Taliban and Al Queda did here and why Iraq was such a bad Idea. In the History of Military Blunders the one Bush made with these folks may well end up being the WORST of all time.

[gangesdak]

It was the Pakistani ISI, funded by the Great Ronald Reagan, that created the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Posted by FloydZepp2

Amen.
And, all US administration, State Department and all, patted themselves in the back thinking that they can turn ISI of Pakistan and Taliban against other Muslims. Boys, you are not that smart.

[floydzepp2]

It was the Pakistani ISI, funded by the Great Ronald Reagan, that created the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

[feelfree4u]

Related-

"Afghanistan''s interior ministry has accused a "foreign intelligence agency" of being behind today''s deadly suicide bombing that ripped apart the country''s Indian embassy in Kabul, killing 41 people."

"A further 141 were injured when the bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into two diplomatic vehicles entering the embassy and the blast also devastated nearby shops and buildings."

"The interior ministry believes this attack was carried out in coordination and consultation with an active intelligence service in the region," the ministry said in a statement."

"Afghanistan has previously accused Pakistani agents of being behind a number of attacks on its soil," according to a London Guardian report, referring to the notorious Pakistani ISI intelligence agency."

[feelfree4u]

You can''t really blame folks for suspecting this as an al- CIA''duh bombing.

It does bear all the hallmarks.