Suicide bombing in Kabul kills nine people during Hagel visit
Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
n Afghan National Army soldier keeps watch near the site of an attack in Kabul March 9, 2013. PHOTO: REUTERS
KABUL:
A suicide bomber killed at least nine people in an attack at the gates of the defence ministry on Saturday during a visit by the US defence secretary, an Afghan defence ministry official said.
The dead were civilians, the official, Dawlat Waziri, told Reuters. Fourteen people, including two security guards, were wounded.
Hagel was nowhere near the explosion, said a spokesman for Afghanistan's Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf). A US defence official said Hagel was in a safe location at an Isaf facility.
The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said the ministry was the target. They said in a statement the attack "is a kind of message" for Hagel.
The blast underscored the security challenges facing Afghanistan as US-led Nato forces prepare to leave the country by the end of 2014.
Hagel arrived in Afghanistan on Friday for his first trip abroad as defense secretary, seeking to make his own assessment of America's longest war as it enters its final stretch.
Hagel said he would meet US commanders and troops, and hold talks with President Hamid Karzai, whose recent orders to curtail US military activity highlights an often tense relationship with the 66,000 American forces here.
Hagel is making his first trip to Afghanistan since a mid-2008 visit with then-Senator Barack Obama during Obama's campaign for the presidency.
Obama, a Democrat, forged a close bond with Hagel, a Republican, and remarked later that summer that the two agreed on almost "every item" of foreign policy.
Hagel was confirmed as defense secretary on February 26 and was sworn into office the next day.
His advice may help shape some of Obama's most lasting decisions in Afghanistan, notably how large a residual mission to keep there once Nato wraps up its combat mission at the end of next year and the vast majority of foreign forces go home.
On Tuesday, the outgoing head of the US military's Central Command, General James Mattis, disclosed that he recommended keeping 13,600 American troops in Afghanistan - above the range of troop levels US officials have said were being considered by the White House and discussed by Nato defence chiefs last month.
Obama last month announced the withdrawal of 34,000 American troops - about half the total - by early next year. Officials also have outlined the expected pace of the withdrawal through next April.
Hagel, a decorated Vietnam war veteran with shrapnel wounds in his chest, has played down links between Vietnam and the grinding, counter-insurgency battle in Afghanistan. Despite 11 years of fighting and significant gains in Afghanistan, the Taliban remain resilient and enjoy safe havens across the border in Pakistan.
A suicide bomber killed at least nine people in an attack at the gates of the defence ministry on Saturday during a visit by the US defence secretary, an Afghan defence ministry official said.
The dead were civilians, the official, Dawlat Waziri, told Reuters. Fourteen people, including two security guards, were wounded.
Hagel was nowhere near the explosion, said a spokesman for Afghanistan's Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf). A US defence official said Hagel was in a safe location at an Isaf facility.
The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said the ministry was the target. They said in a statement the attack "is a kind of message" for Hagel.
The blast underscored the security challenges facing Afghanistan as US-led Nato forces prepare to leave the country by the end of 2014.
Hagel arrived in Afghanistan on Friday for his first trip abroad as defense secretary, seeking to make his own assessment of America's longest war as it enters its final stretch.
Hagel said he would meet US commanders and troops, and hold talks with President Hamid Karzai, whose recent orders to curtail US military activity highlights an often tense relationship with the 66,000 American forces here.
Hagel is making his first trip to Afghanistan since a mid-2008 visit with then-Senator Barack Obama during Obama's campaign for the presidency.
Obama, a Democrat, forged a close bond with Hagel, a Republican, and remarked later that summer that the two agreed on almost "every item" of foreign policy.
Hagel was confirmed as defense secretary on February 26 and was sworn into office the next day.
His advice may help shape some of Obama's most lasting decisions in Afghanistan, notably how large a residual mission to keep there once Nato wraps up its combat mission at the end of next year and the vast majority of foreign forces go home.
On Tuesday, the outgoing head of the US military's Central Command, General James Mattis, disclosed that he recommended keeping 13,600 American troops in Afghanistan - above the range of troop levels US officials have said were being considered by the White House and discussed by Nato defence chiefs last month.
Obama last month announced the withdrawal of 34,000 American troops - about half the total - by early next year. Officials also have outlined the expected pace of the withdrawal through next April.
Hagel, a decorated Vietnam war veteran with shrapnel wounds in his chest, has played down links between Vietnam and the grinding, counter-insurgency battle in Afghanistan. Despite 11 years of fighting and significant gains in Afghanistan, the Taliban remain resilient and enjoy safe havens across the border in Pakistan.