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Subscribe to RSSThe attacks on Western embassies in Kabul, the Afghan capital, raise questions about the competence of Afghan security forces. NBC's Sohel Uddin reports.
Updated at 11:36 p.m. ET: Heavy street fighting between militants and security forces in the center of the Afghan capital Kabul ended on Monday after 18 hours of intense gunfire, rocket attacks and explosions, police and government officials said.
Battles which broke out at mid-day on Sunday gripped the capital's central districts through the night, with explosions and gunfire lighting up alleys and surrounding streets.
"The latest information we have about the Afghan Parliament area is that the attack is over now and the only insurgent who was resisting has been killed," said the Kabul police chief's spokesman Hashmatullah Stanikzai.
The fighting at the parliament in the west of the city was the only pocket where militants were still resisting security forces. Earlier, at daybreak, security forces flushed out militants holed up near embassies in the heavily guarded diplomatic area.
NATO helicopters had launched strafing attack runs on gunmen hiding in a construction site overlooking the NATO headquarters and several embassies, including the British and German missions.
Elite soldiers scaled scaffolding to outflank the insurgents, who appeared to have dug them themselves in on the second floor from the top of the construction site. Bullets ricocheted off walls, sending up clouds of brick dust.
"I could not sleep because of all this gunfire now. It's been the whole night," said local resident Hamdullah.
The assault by the insurgents, which began with attacks on embassies, a supermarket, a hotel and the parliament, is one of the most serious on the capital since U.S.-backed Afghan forces removed the Taliban from power in 2001.
The Taliban said in a statement that heavy gunbattles were continuing in Logar province.
A Taliban spokesman vowed there would be more attacks after gunmen launched multiple attacks on heavily guarded Western embassies in the Afghan capital on Sunday.
The attacks are retaliation for the burning of Qurans at a NATO base in February, the murders of 17 Afghans allegedly by an Army staff sergeant and videos that apparently show U.S. Marines urinating on dead Taliban.
Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for Sunday’s assaults, one of the most serious on the capital since U.S.-backed Afghan forces removed the group from power in 2001.
"These attacks are the beginning of the Spring Offensive and we had planned them for months," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.
Initial intelligence pointed to the militant Haqqani network, a Taliban ally that is fighting against the U.S.-led NATO forces. Four Haqqani insurgents were arrested on Sunday over an assassination attempt on Afghan Vice President Karim Khalili, an Afghan intelligence agency spokesman told Reuters.
The Taliban said the main targets were the German and British embassies and the headquarters of Afghanistan's NATO-led force. Several Afghan members of parliament joined security forces repelling attackers from a roof near the parliament.
The Taliban also claim to have attacked President Hamid Karzai's presidential palace compound, according to NBC’s Akbar Shinawar in Kabul, although that claim could not immediately be verified.
The Afghan National Security Forces said the attacks were "largely ineffective."
But Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said that "no one is underestimating the seriousness of today’s attacks."
"The fighting goes on this evening, and (International Security Assistance Force) is standing by to support our Afghan partners when and if they need it," he said. "I consider it a testament to their skill and professionalism - of how far they've come - that they haven't yet asked for that support."
The Afghan Ministry of Interior told NBC News that 11 suicide attackers were killed across Afghanistan by Afghan security forces. In total, 14 police and nine civilians were wounded, it said.
NBC News reported that police captured two attackers with suicide-bomb vests and destroyed a car full of explosives near the Afghan parliament.
The U.S. Embassy was under lockdown and staff there were safe, spokesman Gavin Sundwall said. "The U.S. Embassy is currently in lockdown, following our standard operating procedures after hearing explosions and gunfire in the area," he said.
The U.S. Embassy also issued an alert message to Americans in Afghanistan, urging them to "exercise extreme caution" and "move to secure areas."
Taliban fighters also launched assaults in at least two provinces, a spokesman for the insurgents said.
The Taliban said in a statement three hours into the attack that "tens of fighters," armed with heavy and light weapons, and some wearing suicide-bomb vests, were involved.
The coordinated attack is bound to intensify concern in the run-up to the planned withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.
The assault appeared to repeat the tactics of an attack in Kabul last September when insurgents entered construction sites in several places to use them as positions for rocket and gun attacks.
Taliban spokesman Mujahid said it had been easy to bring fighters into the capital, and they had had inside help to move heavy weapons into place.
Afghan security forces, who are responsible for the safety of the capital, were scrambling to reinforce areas around the so-called green diplomatic section of the city center.
Attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade that landed just outside the front gate of a house used by British diplomats in the city center and smoke billowed from the area after the blast, a witness told Reuters.
British embassy sources said staff were in a lockdown.
Ahmad Jamshid / AP
A NATO soldier runs to the scene of a attack by Taliban militants in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday.
Two rockets hit a British Embassy guard tower near the Reuters office in the city.
Fighting was going on at some facilities of NATO's International Security Assistance Force and near the U.S., Russian and German embassies, ISAF said via Twitter.
An ISAF spokesman said there were no reports of casualties in the attacks on possibly seven locations in Kabul, and the U.S. Embassy said in a statement all its staff were accounted for and safe.
A U.S. defense official who declined to be identified said the attackers were using mostly small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, and "perhaps even suicide bombers."
Three rockets hit a supermarket that is popular with foreigners near the German embassy, Reuters witnesses said. News channel Al Jazeera reported that smoke was seen rising from the German embassy.
Smoke rose from the vicinity of the embassy while women scurried for cover as gunfire crackled.
As the shooting went on, U.S. Army convoys could be seen coming to the area accompanied by Afghan police in flak jackets.
Attackers also fired rockets at the parliament building in the west of the city, and at the Russian embassy, a spokesman for the parliament said.
Most MPs had left the building before it came under attack, said a lawmaker. However, one of several who fought back from a roof, Naeem Hameedzai, told Reuters: "I'm the representative of my people and I have to defend them."
Afghan media said insurgents had stormed the Star Hotel complex near the presidential palace and the Iranian embassy. Windows of the hotel were blown out and smoke billowed from the building.
In the eastern province of Paktia, NATO helicopter gunships attacked insurgents holed up in a building next to a construction site while in the eastern city of Jalalabad, a witness told Reuters that the Taliban had attacked a foreign force base near a school.
One Taliban insurgent was killed, another blew himself up and a third was captured. A blast also went off near the airport in Jalalabad, a witness said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Time to send more checks out mr prez
OK, who's for spending another few billion dollars in Afghanistan, raise your hand? With all the progress that's being made, shouldn't the U.S. tax payer feel really good about the last 11 years and the trillion dollars spent as well has the deaths?
What a disgusting waste and it continues till 2014 or longer.
A waste of time or paper?
The U.S. owns the printing press that the dollars are made with
Money is only worth what it will buy ( medium of exchange)
They print money 24 hours a day
As long as the World uses it as the World collatteral
And forget about the accounting methods the Federal Reserve uses
Taxpayers or just a part of the accounting process
Mainly used as scare tactics by replicans
When they are out of office The Presidency
You will never HEAR a Replican President say anything about the deficit
The whole Mid-East
Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, and Iran in turmoil
Afganistan, the land the Taliban had eliminated drugs and poppies
has been eradicated as a religious cult exactly like christians
and the drugs are flowing again
And ISRAEL Loves it.
Probably because the Jewish mafia is making billions there also, huh?
Not sure which is a bigger piece of phony corrupt bs. The war on drugs or the war on terror. All I know is that Afghanistan combines both.
LEAVE LEAVE LEAVE LEAVE NOW!!!!!!
Considering there has been 5 republican administrations & 3 democrat administrations usually being stuck with the clean ups of the previous administration for the War on Drugs.... Maybe we should not put republicans back in office because they leave terrible messes with wars
Ron Paul's silly idea is to surrender & legalize all drugs, let the cartels win --- That's not such a bright idea is it?
Yup, you're right.
Hell, only the CIA traffics more drugs than the Taliban. Followed by Colombias ex-president Alvaro's family cocaine export business and then the Jewish mafia out of Tel Aviv at #3.
Reagan didn't help much,,,, His policies brought a reign of terror to Columbia & Central America, Iran-Contra, Arms for Hostages & Ollie North who smuggled cocaine into the USA
To: Defend America Forever:
Your quote: "OH, By the way, your jewish-banker comment shows how CLUELESS you really are, NO banks are controlled by jews, RESEARCH FIRST then post.
TheAZCowBoy: "And the Pope isn't Catholic either, huh Pilgrim?
Get out and let these dogs kill themselves.
Hell, the people were doing OK until the Russians came in folowed by the baby killer US/NATO and the rest is history.
The Seven Headed Lion on the rise will fall.
Okay--make an example of the Taliban. Captured members should be shot in public and then post their heads in town squares. No more pussyfooting around. If they are not in uniforms, the shoot them as spies or terrorists-no need for trials-just kill them. If we get a few "innocents" well too bad. Next time the citizens can point them out and avoid getting shot themselves. Remember kids can kill you as well as adults so any kid with a weapon should be shot on sight. If Pakistan complains-bomb the @!$%# out of them as well. NO MORE Mr. NICE GUY!!!
Either do the above or get the hell out and let the people there suffer their own fate.
Right on!!
It works in L.A. !!!
The Pope isn't Catholic!!?? When did that happen?? Are there stiil Pilgrims?? Does this mean we still have to eat that nasty cranberry stuff?
Some facts and some motivations re. the invasion of Afghanistan: Facts that our troops are not aware of, unfortunately.
(1) The planned construction of the oil pipeline for Unocal, and the Taliban were playing financial hardball.
(2) A large section of the world's opium supply, ie from Afghanistan had been eradicated as a result of the Taliban's anti-drug measures. Since the 2001/2002 defeat of the Taliban, the $500 Billion a year opium trade was re-established, and the international banking sector re-acquired their lost revenue.
(3) The Taliban offered to arrest Osama bin Laden shortly after 9/11, if the Bush Administration would supply evidence that (OBL) was responsible. The Bush Administration refused. There was no evidence.
(4) The need to test bunker buster nuclear weapons in the field. There weapons (less than 0.5 kiloton yield) were very likely used by the US Air Force in October 2001 against cave complexes in the Afghanistan mountains around Tora Bora. Urine samples from Afghan children in the region in November 2001 registered certain radioactive isotopes some 100,000 times greater than what is considered "safe", including isotopes that can only created from nuclear fission events.
(5) Not a single person alleged to have taken part in the 9/11 attacks were either Afghan citizens, or had even set foot in Afghanistan.
(6) The wars against both Iraq and Afghanistan were being planned in the White House less than ONE WEEK after George W. Bush's inauguration in January 2001, almost 9 months prior to 9/11.
(7) Even Dick Cheney admitted, on the Tony Snow Show, March 2006, that "there are no connections, or hard evidence, linking OSAMA BIN LADEN to the 9/11 attacks".
In other words, America got robbed. America got ripped off. The US people got stiffed, shafted, scammed, and conned. We drank the Neocon Koolaid like it was going out of fashion. The Senate, Congress, media, White House and media got down on their kneepads like a bunch of cheap slappers and obeyed the Israeli lobby's demands, to the letter. We were all suckers, believing in a wild-ass conspiracy tale involving "al Qaeda and a 6'5" inch ex CIA asset who led in a cave". We only believed it because it conformed to our comfort zones, and what the corporate media was telling us, repetitively, as nauseam, starting from when the Twin Towers were still standing after being hit.
Next time, DO NOT FALL FOR IT. There WILL be a next time, since this kind of deception always works very well, given an largely uninformed and docile public who don't have the time to go digging for reality.
Don't be a sheep. Don't fall for crazy stories sicker up by the government and the corporate weasel-media. Be a patriot. Demand the answers.... America should be made of sterner stuff than what we have displayed in the last 10.5 years of infamy.
nik-2328200 Well said friend. Well said.
Sounds like another VIETNAM to me. Let them fight it out and BRING OUR BOYS HOME.... DEJAVU or what' Lost many freinds in nam and we still didn't win' This is what they call insanity( repeating the same mistakes and getting the same results)
History does repeat itself my friend.
pakistanis i bet you are laughing under their trecheurus wiskers. they made us stop the drone bombs which gave them the space and time needed to plan all of this. to fight a snake either you cut off its head or you don't fight it at all.we,in all our infinite wisdom are doing neither.
When the rich wage war its the poor that die.
Okay, maybe I'm barkng up the wrong tree but my strong feeling is....... Stop reporting this stuff!!! One of the goals of terrorism is to get media coverage. To get the entire world to feel a degree of fear thereby bringing these folks closer to their "dream". I know there has to be an element who likes to read about these sorts of things but is it that we REALLY like to read about this stuff or have we been conditioned to hear about this stuff??? I don't pretend to have the answer but know that my life is better since I have discontinued my interest (which was minimal to start with) in knowing about who's getting blown up where. I didn't read this article and won't. I just felt a definite desire to express this opinion because it seems counterintuitive to continue sending out this level of negative energy and expect to get a positive result. If we could all decide that we don't care to know, where would the point of terrorism find itself?
Just a thought and I appreciate your reading!
Ya know its a waste of American, UN, and NATO resources to stay in the middle east. Not to mention the fact that they don't want us there to begin with. One thing they do want is Nukes......so I say give it to them. Drop a couple show them why they are dangerous and remove some of the work force that is taking jobs through outsourcing......kill multiple birds with but one stone....or rather nuke.....also shows the world that we as a country are still prepared to defend ourselves with our nuclear arsenal if needed......
The middle east are more likely to refuse the so called system (the machine) rather than except it as the so called American's, British Empire, (Western society). When the machine takes over the world, only YAHWEH himself will destroy it, As it was written.
Spout.... Dude your butt is on fire,,,,,,, We are trying to eliminate nuclear threats from that part of the world.... Not push them into full on Nuclear Proliferation for Self Defense against the United States
can we please just let these savages from these countries just kill eachother....ENOUGH ALREADY !
Yes^10
When are Americans going to wake up and realize that our occupation of their Country is what is pissing them off so much. You can't force something on someone and not expect them to get pissed off. Bring the boys home and let them figure it out for themselves.
the announced cut date caused the second defeat of our great armies..
the surge caused countless deaths of our great heros and did nothing..
and political interference will never result in victory..
set up a greenzone at bagram, enforce the perimeter, and leave the country..
what we can't salvage, blow it up..leave them no arms or equipment that they can later use on us..
and let a dozen secet service and uniformed officers be the last to leave..
I also find it both interesting and disturbing that obama is so quiet about this. The media are reporting completely oppostie what the did to Bush. Biased media for sure. I can't believe the dems are still falling for it. Most libs are ok with lying and cheating to win. Trust me, I have several casual friends, who used to be close friends, until they startd acting Marxist. Every one of my lib dem friends say it'd be abslutely fine keeping the conservative ideas out of hollywood AND universities. Hello, Hitler calling. Are they just blind or dumb or what? I';m so sick of these worthless muslims. islam is a cheap, knock off, wannabe copy of Christianity. Look it up. Total rip off. Was 'invented' 500 years AFTER Christianity. I think they were just jealous and hopelss, so they made uo some BS religion. These people are sociopathic murderers at best. Killing innocent people. allah and mohammed must be related to Satan or something, because how the heck can there actions be justified? Pure evil. Too bad we have liberalized our military, and tied both hands behind out back. I think we should pull the troops out, station some ships and subs, and do routine fly overs. When the idiot muslims start killing and blowimg things up, we should launch nukes. If there's collateral damage, maybe the civilian population will get the hint and try to help change their countries idiotic way. obama's a naive fool. He shouldnt be in the offise of the President. Stupid, indoctrinated Americans, they'll vote for him again evern though he's a COMPLETE FAILURE. You know what else? He's gonna win again because of the dems cheat to win mindset. Like I said before, dems are oj with him faking votes and cheating to win. You all watch, obama's gonna win in november, then Beautiful America will never shine the same. I'm still going to vote aginst the current, uhm 'president', but massive voter fraud is already in the works. Look up SCYTL. New company handling the vote counts. With this new system, it'll make it nearly impossible to do recounts by district. Get ready for a soviet style America, it's coming.
WTF was that? ---- Quit listening to Glenn Beck
enlightened 1,,,, Look here for the help you need, it's free
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/find_therapy
hey bugsy..
see you're back..
that agent orange that lbj set off in nam is getting to you?
lay off the sauce and relax..
enjoy the rest of your life..living in lib heaven..
This war is futile! Our enemy is not people, but a belief system that is ancient, barbaric and impossible to change. The whole purpose of this invasion was to get Bin Laden. Fine, but that has been accomplished. Why in the world are we still there? Does anyone with an IQ above 50 think we can nation build, decimate the poppy fields and drug infection or turn barbarians into a modern society? This country is wasted and every life shed and dollar spent adds to that waste. If we leave tomorrow or in 10 years, nothing will change and the day following our departure, the people will return to the 14th century and continue their lives of inhumane reason, primitive culture and barbaric social structure! One cannot turn vermin into butterflies so bring ALL the troops home...NOW!
Let's see what the "Bowing-Pansy _ss Hussein Zero" will do now. He's bowed so much he's got his head stuck up his rear. Time to pull it out Zero and do something useful, before we throw your losing administration Out!
Have you ever been in your yard and step on an ant hill, the ants come out and attack anything in their way and try to kill any other thing that is there in their way.. These poeple are just like ants, they don't care who it is or who it was, all they want to do is kill. Why do we stay there when people like that has only one goal is to kill us, no matter what.. These people are just in love with the lust for blood of americans, it is time to come home and let them kill each other as they have for over 100 years, but don't be fooled if they step one foot in this country we should shoot them on site, no and's, no if's, or no butt's about it......
Model,,, Before you go shooting everyone who comes into an international airport in the USA check out this link,,,, It might help you
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/go/find_therapy
Stick to model trains pal, stick with what you are good at,,,, I'm a model train enthusiast as well
Jim, It sounds harsh, what I'm saying and I don't mean everyone one, I mean if we know they are terrorist and know for sure they are coming here to do harm in our country they need to be taken out, we need to show the world that our country means what it says, we live in freedom and we will not take it from people who hate our freedom. We need to show that we are stronger than them and will not stand by for their way of life that they want us to be like. Our men and women are fighting a lost cause over there and need to come home and protect our freedoms here is this country.. Do you agree or not....How many more lives will be lost for a lost cause?
We live in a land of freedom yes, but don't be ridiculous --- You do not have the "freedom to shoot anyone who you think is a threat"
Our country has gotten pretty good at keeping the bad guys out, let the experts do it
It'll get better come Nov. 6th when we fumigate our beloved White House...
God Bess America... AGAIN !
Who's God? Republicans it is Mammon, the son of Satan greed & gluttony. To evangelists it is Paul & Martin Luther
Who knows who Romney's God is? Even with religion Mitt prays to a wall mounted 72" Etch & Sketch
Poor Jim's..... been eating bad carrots!
00 foot high wall around Afganistan and air drop two million rounds of AK-47 ammo only over the wall, not money. When the smoke clears, kill everyone left standing as they will be the Taliban. Problem solved!
The mind of a juvenile American savage on display:
00 foot high wall around Afganistan and air drop two million rounds of AK-47 ammo only over the wall, not money. When the smoke clears, kill everyone left standing as they will be the Taliban. Problem solved!
Charlie,,,, You want to do what, take all of our AK ammo here & give it to who for what?
The American intel service guys were out looking for prostitues to gip when Taliban came calling. It's odd that many Americans call the Taliban animals when these attacks are in retaliation for the deliberate acts of some Americans being savages. 20,000 Taleban are in the process of defeating 300,000 American NATO techno gadget-heavy mercenaries.
The article states that a couple of Taliban were captured wearing suicide vests, and by Afghan security forces. I'll bet they're having a good day in some dark, smelly little room, right now. Good luck enjoying your 72 virgins with your lips, ears, and genitalia seared off before taking an AK round in the back of the head, boys.
You might be a savage. The US CIA in Iraq did things as hold electric drills next to heads threatening to use them and fire guns right beside prisoners' ears damaging their hearing forever. Not to mention water boarding just as the Khmer Rouge did to dissidents in Cambodia.
Weighed against walking into a crowd of noncombatants and detonating yourself? "Savage" is all about perspective. Strapping explosives to yourself with the intent to randomly slaughter others is an act that places you outside the protection of being classified "human".
"Hurdle the Dead & Kill the weak"