The begining of the end of Karzai? Is this the first deadly shot in Spring offensive on Kabul.

A daring and spectacular attack in the heart of Kabul in an event that was heavily fortified shows the impotence of the “Mayor of Kabul”, Mr. Karzai. With an election coming up next year, the most protected man on the planet cannot even venture outside his compound into Kabul. Six years after the “liberation” of Afghanistan, the state remains mired in chaos, warlordism, narco-terrorism and a base for insecurity for all her neighbors and the world. The country has to be carved up into pieces and combined with Pakistan.

Karzai seems to have escaped the attack on Kabul by the resistance forces. Can he escape the wrath of the Spring offensive?

Sunday’s brazen attack on a military parade in the Afghan capital Kabul at which President Hamid Karzai was officiating marks the beginning of a new phase in the Afghan insurgency in which attrition will be the focus. ..the armed men belonged to legendary Afghan mujahid Jalaluddin Haqqani’s network and were facilitated by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hezb-e-Islami network in Kabul. Hekmatyar is an Afghan warlord and politician par excellence….. commanders such as Haqqani have refined their methods, in Haqqani’s case by orchestrating suicide attacks and missions such as Sunday’s in Kabul.. Saleem Shahzad A Times

Indeed, the Taliban have lined up a stream of attackers to target Kabul to rattle the Afghan government and NATO forces in coming days and weeks

Mr. Karzai scared for his life stands on top of a very heavily fortified 4×4. He briefly appeared over the top and faced a barrage from the attackers on Kabul.

The type of attack was a new development for Kabul and its security forces, which have mostly had to battle against suicide bombers and car bombs over the last several years. In January militants …mounted a new type of attack when they stormed a five-star hotel, in a coordinated attack, with a suicide bomber breaching the security on the gate and a gunman dressed in police clothes entering the hotel and gunning down civilians inside.

Security forces fleeing the scene.

The hundreds of security forces ran after six Pashtuns attacked.

Sunday’s attack was also different to anything attempted before, with possibly two teams, one firing the mortars, and the second gunmen firing into the VIP stands. It is not clear how the gunmen managed to bring weapons so close to the parade ground but the Taliban claimed to have help from inside the force.

The picture shows the Afghan security personnel flee the gorunds after the Pashtuns attack Kabul.

Running away?The fall of Kabul is now inevitable!

“The full responsibility goes to the security ministries,” said Noor ul Haq Uloomi, a former general who chairs the parliamentary security committee. “It’s because they always think about the quantity and not the quality of the forces,” he said.

Kabul was flooded by police and intelligence agents who blocked roads and checked cars in the days before the parade. Police were stationed at the hotel that was used by the gunmen, but apparently did not search the individual rooms. NY Times

Full video here

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=7580849&ch=4226714&src=news

Also see

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pV4mHKW95sk

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=pV4mHKW95sk]

Also see

http://youtube.com/watch?v=j0-Guj7PBKU

The Washington Post reports a Taliban Pashtun spokesman saying the following.

Three of our attackers have been killed and three managed to escape. Small arms and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) were used in the attack,” The attack disproved Afghan government and NATO assertions that the Taliban insurgency has been weakened”.

“Afghan and NATO authorities this year repeatedly said the Taliban are on the verge of annihilation … Now it is has been proved to them the Taliban not only have the ability to operate in the provinces, but even in Kabul,” said Mujahid.

“Karzai and his cabinet can’t be safe from Taliban attacks.”Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters from an undisclosed location.

The Washington Post also reports that “Immediately after the attack, bandsmen in full dress uniform and ordinary soldiers scrambled to get out of the line of fire. Other soldiers and Karzai’s bodyguards, dressed in black, took up firing positions on roads near the parade ground”

The Afghanistan under Pashtun control also called “Taliban”. “the Taliban now claim to have more than 12,000 men under arms and to be in control of more than 20 districts across their old southern heartland provinces of Kandahar, Zabul, Helmand and Uruzgan. The total poppy crop is worth almost $US3 billion a year. Local government and police chiefs are rolling over for the Taliban to the extent that a local MP told the Herald: “It’s a Taliban government down south now – the Afghan and foreign military can move only by aircraft; Kabul controls only five to 20 per cent of the southern provinces.”
”

The map of Afghanistan showing the Pathans/Pashtun areas

The military surge in Afghanistan has largely gone unnoticed, in part because the U.S. commitment here is so much smaller. The 40-nation coalition force has increased to about 62,000 from about 42,000 in 2006. The American contribution is by far the largest, with more than 30,000 troops, including a new boost of 3,200 Marines just dispatched to southern Afghanistan, the area of the toughest fighting. Last year, the United States spent $4.9 billion on training and equipment for the Afghan army, after spending $3.5 billion during the preceding five years combined, according to a U.S. official. Washinton Post

Despite all the surge and the Billions psent, the Kabul government cannot even control Kabul

In what promsies to be a bloody spring, the Afghan forces have started the offensive with a big bang.

The fact that Mr. Karzai is becoming more and more irrelvant to Afghan politics that even his cordoned off sanctuary within the “forbidden city” is not safe for him or his goverment. Like the “last emperor” of China, Mr. Karzai barely ventures outside Kabul, unless it is on an international flight. In foreign capitals his speeches are fire and brimstone. At home he is a church mouse, who netierh has any authority, nor does his writ go beyond the walls of his compound.

The Taliban (actually Pashtuns and Afghans) are getting more and more confident in their attacks and are now attacking the caiptal itself.

“When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.”
Rudyard Kipling

The story of Afghainstan and colonialism begins a long time ago. British tried to take up White Man’s burden in Afghanistan.

The Brits and the Europeans has not been able to grasp the reality of what is happening in Afghanistan. NATO Lessons: 1880 UK defeat at Maiwand-Afghanistan. NATO is bogged down in Afghanistan and may jeopardise its own existence.Is NATO committing suicide in Afghanistan. The Afghans and Pakistanis of the region have never been conquered. NATO lessons: UK defeat at Maiwind may shed some light on today’s situation.

For the past century, Afghanistan has brought instability to Paksitan and the rest of the world for two decades. It is time to end this experiment started by Durand. Urgent steps should be taken to eliminate all foreign forces from South and Central Asia. Pakistani forces can bring peace to Afghnistan. To bring stability to the region and as a first step all the Pashtun provinces should be inculcated into Pakistan. As a later step the Pakistani boundary should extend to the Oxus (Amu Darya). This will make the Pashtuns happy and will help eliminate terrorism in the region.Saving the Pashtuns of Afghania from Afghanistan. Eradicating the Pashtun plight and ending occupation. The merger of Afghanistan into Pakistan is inevitable.

Attempts on Afghan president’s life By the Associated Press – 2 hours ago

President Hamid Karzai has escaped at least four attempts on his life since he took power in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime six years ago:

_ April 27, 2008 – Militants open fire with automatic weapons and rockets on a ceremony in Kabul. Karzai, Cabinet ministers and ambassadors flee for cover and escape unharmed. Three people are killed, including a lawmaker, and eight wounded. The Taliban claims responsibility for the attack.

_ June 10, 2007 – Taliban militants fire six rockets that land near a school yard where Karzai is meeting with local leaders and residents in Andar district, Ghazni province. No one is hurt. Karzai continues his speech despite the attack before returning to Kabul.

_ Sept. 17, 2004 – Militants fire rockets at an American helicopter taking Karzai to the eastern city of Gardez, in Paktia province, missing the chopper as it approached a landing zone. No one is hurt.

_ Sept. 9, 2002 – A former Taliban fighter dressed in an Afghan army uniform fires toward Karzai as he travels in a motorcade in the city of Kandahar. Karzai is unharmed, but Kandahar Gov. Gul Agha Sherzai is wounded. The attacker is killed by Karzai’s American bodyguards. Two other people who tried to disarm the attacker are also killed.