Suicide Bomber Sept 30

photos by Jamie Scott-Long
The deep thud of a nearby explosion shook the windows and as the senses scrambled to make sense of the sound, my eyelids flicked open. Ten to 8, wake up. The suicide bomber detonated the bomb he wore 500 meters away. We went into the garden, scanning the skies for helicopters to lead us to the site. Quiet. Last time the resounding boom was followed by dogs barking, sirens, and cars blaring their horns unaware of the traffic's cause.
Chicken street where souvenir and craft shops cater to tourists who don't come was awash with people streaming away from the incident. We walked against the current, shopkeepers still trying to entice us to buy a rug.
International troops were not hit so Afghan policemen were left use their own techniques to control the crowds. When ISAF is involved there are cordons and huge stern men with guns, people obey. Here everyone tries their luck. The officers charge, angrily waving telescoping batons or scraps of metal picked up from the road. Then they turn around and forget about the line for a while. One has a loudspeaker which he uses as a sonic gun to push people back.

A sucide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body as workers arrived at the Ministry of Interiors to start their day.
Just before 8am as workers were getting of the bus that brought them to the office, a man known to the police charged past a checkpoint towards the crowd. Before the police officers closing in on him could shoot, he blew himself up.
The explosion shattered shop windows and ripped through flesh. The leaves on trees all fell, shredded, to the tarmac in a gruesome early autumn.


The trend of intensifying combat which has seen 2400 people die has been matched by increasing numbers of suicide attacks. Last year there were 21. So far this year there have been more than 50. More than 150 civilians have been killed in these attacks, comprising more than 80% of the casualties.

This week NATO announced that its remit is to expand to include command of the American forces in eastern Afghanistan. They have been facing more attacks since Pakistan agreed to a peace deal with tribal elders. Some say though that the motivator for the pact on the tribal side was Mullah Omar. The agreement was made formal on the 5th of September and stipulated the reduction of Pakistani military presence in return for the cessation of attacks on military personnel and installations. Thousands of prisoners originally held for their links to Al Quaeda, Taliban, and other terrorist groups were released on the proviso that they would be peaceful. Bill Roggio claims that among those released were the killers of Dan Pearl, the Journalist murdered in 2002. Musharaff's attempts to paint this as a deal with tribal elders who would co-operate against Al Quaeda ring hollow as Mullah Omar, the Taliban commander seems to have motivated the agreement and ensured tribal militants signed.

The effect has been a threefold increase in attacks in some eastern regions of Afghanistan.
Musharaf claims the treaty was aimed at increasing stability in the area, though it looks like a concession to the extremists. Effectively it will mean that the tribal border areas are even less policed, permitting the freer movement of weapons and training of fighters.

Following from their meeting with Bush, Karzai and Musharraf have agreed to hold joint meetings with tribal elders.

Pakistan is seen in Afghanistan as the source of instability. Karzai called for the closure of madrassas or religious schools where men and boys are indoctrinated with the extremist beliefs in martyrdom an a hatred for the west. Tom Koenigs told me that there is an unlimited supply of fighters all willing to die.



To Afghanis, Musharraf, a general who seized power through a military coup, has an interest in a destabilised Afghanistan. Should the government here regain strength it could make demands for the return of the land south of the British bureaucrat created Durand line. That land would allow Afghanistan access to the sea and a way of trading Central Asian resources without having to go through Pakistan.