Attack on Abdullah: Kabul hints at Pakistan link

Abdullah survived the assassination attempt on Friday when two blasts hit his campaign motorcade in Kabul.


Afp June 09, 2014
Abdullah survived the assassination attempt on Friday when two blasts hit his campaign motorcade in Kabul. PHOTO: FILE

KABUL: Afghanistan on Sunday accused ‘foreign intelligence services’ of being behind an attack targeting presidential front-runner Abdullah Abdullah that killed 12 people, in a veiled reference to Pakistan.

Abdullah survived the assassination attempt on Friday when two blasts hit his campaign motorcade in Kabul.

“Initial investigations indicate foreign intelligence services were involved in this incident through Lashkar-e-Taiba in an organised manner, and the terrorists were aiming to disrupt the election in Afghanistan,” Afghanistan’s National Security Council, which is chaired by President Hamid Karzai, said in a statement.

The attempt to assassinate Abdullah triggered strong international condemnation, including from the United States and the UN Security Council.

Afghanistan is in the middle of elections to choose a successor to Karzai. Abdullah fell short of the 50 per cent threshold needed for an outright victory in the April first round and will face former World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani in the run-off.

The NSC statement said Friday’s attack on Abdullah was ‘the worst incident during election campaign’.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2014.

COMMENTS (4)

Fatima | 9 years ago | Reply

@Ahmar: This is probably because of the difference in the image of Pakistan and India. Everywhere in the world the image of Pakistan is that of an ignorant, terrorist supporting, illiterate, poor nation while that of India is that of hard working, educated and prospering nation. Despite the poverty rate being equal in both the countries (or probably lower in Pakistan) world views Pakistan as the most evil nation. Look at several African nation and the level of genocide there but everywhere there is a terrorist attack, it is somehow linked with Pakistan. I think it is time we come out of the approach of denial and agree that there is a problem. This is like cancer which will kill us first before it kills anyone else. We have blamed foreign intelligence agencies and others a lot but the world pays no attention to it. It is time to rethink whether our media and politicians are telling us the truth? India has shown to the world that it has far more important things to focus on but for some reason the whole purpose of existence of Pakistan seems to be the destruction of India. Why are all our policies centered towards India. It is time for our politicians to pay attention to the growth of Pakistan and welfare of Pakistanis. Indians and the rest of the world can take care of themselves. We are not suppliers of suicide bombers and terrorists and our foreign and defense policy must now clearly show that.

Ahmar | 9 years ago | Reply

Same as always, but what surprises me is that no official from Pakistan Govt has the GUTS to mention INDIA's involvement in the latest Karachi attack. Interestingly, every article in the western media mentioned TTP's involvement in the attack yet *very conveniently missed* the fact that the attackers had Indian made Arms and medicines in their possession.

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