Taliban: Kabul attack revenge for U.S. atrocities

(CBS News) A Taliban spokesman said the brazen 18-hour attack in the Afghan capital that targeted one of the most secure areas of the city - one that houses several foreign embassies, a NATO base and the Afghan parliament - had been planned for months and was in part revenge for U.S. troops' Quran-burning, urination on dead Taliban militants and the alleged killing of 17 Afghan civilians by a lone U.S. Army sergeant, CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports.

The coordinated attacks in Kabul and in three provincial capitals left 36 insurgents dead, along with eight Afghan security forces. Forty security personnel were wounded.

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One captured insurgent reportedly confessed that the attack was orchestrated by the Haqqani network, a Taliban subgroup that operates from neighboring Pakistan that also has ties to al Qaeda.

"Attacks like this demonstrate why we need to be here," U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker said Sunday. "To get out before the Afghans have a full grip on security, which is a couple of years out, would be to invite the Taliban, the Haqqanis and al Qaeda back in and set the stage for another 9/11 and that, I think, is an unacceptable risk for any American."

Watch Allen Pizzey's full report in the video player above.