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Hamid Karzai escapes Taliban attack
The ceremony was commemorating the 16th anniversary of Afghanistan's victory over the Soviet invasion, which is also known as Victory Day parade and showcases Afghanistan's military power, including troops, tanks and aircraft. Just as the national anthem ended shots rang out from abandoned houses a few yards from where the VIP's were seated hitting the back of the stage.
The Taliban while taking responsibility for the attack, denied that is was an attempt on President Karzai's life. According to the AFP, there were also large explosions, likely caused by rocket propelled grenades, which landed near the stage. Although President Karzai appeared in a news conference following the attack to state that everything was calm and that some of the perpetrators had been captured, the Taliban issued a statement saying that the purpose of the attack was not to kill any high level target, but merely a means to show that it could attack anywhere at any time it pleased.
Indeed, the attack seems to have achieved the Taliban's stated objective as they were able to execute it in the Middle of tight security provided by Afghan and allied forces, and in the midst of a display of Afghanistan's military power. It remains to be seen what the psychological shock of the event will be both within Afghanistan, and NATO member states, particularly those who have been reluctant to increase their military presence in the country, or to engage in a more serious counter-insurgency effort.
India and Pakistan have both expressed outrage over the attack, but given relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, at least one of these will get short shrift. The attack also demonstrates how much still remains to be done to secure Afghanistan from the Taliban and al Qaeda, and how our efforts are being hampered by our continued presence in Iraq, where the host of enemies we are fighting, be they the PKK in northern Iraq, al Sadr's Mahdi army in southern Iraq, and with the exception of AQI, has little or nothing to do with our larger war against al Qaeda.
The BBC has a set of 8 images documenting the parade and attack here.
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