Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani killed in blast in Kabul

[EagleOne]

Kabul: A loud explosion rocked Kabul Tuesday close to the US embassy and the home of an Afghan former president who now leads the country's efforts to talk peace with the Taliban, an AFP reporter said.

The blast took place in the city's diplomatic zone close to the home of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the reporter said, added that an ambulance had arrived at the scene and surrounding roads were blocked off.

The Interior Ministry could not immediately confirm the target of the blast.
Blast near ex-Afghan President's home in Kabul

A senior police officer told Reuters that Mr Rabbani had been killed in the attack. The BBC also quoted officials claiming Mr Rabbani, a former president as well as a leader of the country's main opposition, had died in the blast.
The BBC report claimed Mr Rabbani was meeting with two members of the Taliban in his home at the time of the blast.

Afghanistan Peace Council chairman Burhanuddin Rabbani 'killed in Kabul blast' - Telegraph

 

[Singh]

Done by ISI to reign in Taliban who are pro-power sharing and peace. This is not the first time.

 

[JBH22]

Good riddance that pig used to torture soviet soldiers when they were captured,essentially a Bin Laden but without terrorist tag..

Badaber Uprising - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Daredevil]

That's sad. RIP to the ex-president. Don't hold your breath to know who is behind this. Who else it can be other than pakistanis. They don't want anyone to speak directly to Taliban. They want all talks with Taliban to go through them. Any deviation form this, either they arrest the Taliban leaders like Abdul Baradar or people like Rabbanis are taken care of with such heinous acts.

 

[ejazr]

This is unbelievable. He was the head of the peace council and had just recently come to India and was given a red carpet welcome to discuss the peace process. By all accounts it was a fruitful visit and they had even requested Islamic scholars from Deoband and other religious centres in India to come in Afghanistan and help in countering extremism and terrorism religiously. (Rabbani to visit India with 15-member delegation - Indian Express)

This is certainly ISI's way in trying to curtail India's influence. This is a red line that has been crossed. I would expect any self respecting Afghan including Taliban to take on the ISI sponsored Haqqani network which surely must have been involved.

I can't express how angry this makes me. The Afghans have suffered for 3 decades and now these idiots are preparing for this to go on for another decade. Just pathetic.

 

[JBH22]

Unbelievable how some can believe that he's a protagonist for peace these Mullahs are just warlords

 

[Singh]

Apparently there was a second attack on Rabbani's house to target relative's who came to mourn.

 

[Galaxy]

Suicide bomber kills ex-Afghan President Rabbani

Suicide bomber kills ex-Afghan President Rabbani

FILE This Monday Jan. 21, 2002 file photo shows Burhanuddin Rabbani, former president of Afghanistan sitting in his office in Kabul, Afghanistan during an exclusive interview by the Associated Press. A Kabul police official said Tuesday Sept. 20, 2011 that former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed by a suicide bomber who had explosives in his turban. A presidential spokesman says Afghan President Hamid Karzai is cutting short his trip to the United Nations in New York to return to Kabul. Photo: AMIR SHAH / AP


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who headed a government peace council set up to facilitate contacts with Taliban insurgents, was assassinated Tuesday by a suicide bomber concealing explosives in his turban, officials said. Four of Rabbani's bodyguards also died and a key presidential adviser was wounded.

President Hamid Karzai cut short a visit to the U.S. over the attack, which dealt a harsh blow to peace efforts after a decade of war.

The turban bomber entered Rabbani's house in the capital Kabul on Tuesday evening and blew himself up inside, said Mohammad Zahir, the chief of criminal investigation for the Kabul police.

Rabbani headed the country's High Peace Council, which was set up by the Afghan government to work toward a political solution to the decade-long war. However, it had made little headway since it was formed a year ago.

Rabbani was president of the Afghan government that preceded the Taliban rule. After he was driven from Kabul in 1996, he became the nominal head of the Northern Alliance, mostly minority Tajiks and Uzbeks, who swept to power in Kabul after the Taliban's fall. Rabbani is an ethnic Tajik.

His killing dampens hopes of starting peace negotiations with Taliban insurgents and also will hamper efforts to keep regional and ethnic rivalries, which feed the insurgency, in check.

As one of the wise old man of Afghan politics and the leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, Rabanni's role in the attempts to reach out to the Taliban and seeking a political deal with them — with the U.S. blessing — will be hard to replicate in the near future.

His death could unleash a well of resentment building up among some senior Northern Alliance members, who accuse President Hamid Karzai of colluding with the Taliban.

Already Afghanistan's ethnic minorities have begun to re-arm in the face of negotiations with the Taliban. Rabbani's death is likely to accelerate the re-arming and lay the foundation for a bitter civil war once U.S. troops leave the country in 2014.

Karzai's adviser Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai was wounded in the attack. A relative who answered Stanekzai's phone said that the wounds did not appear to be life-threatening, but Stanekzai was in the hospital. The relative declined to give his name because of the sensitivity of the situation

Stanekzai is chief executive of the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program, a highly touted program funded by the U.S. and its coalition allies to bring mid- and lower-level Taliban back into Afghan society. The program has so far only managed to reintegrated about 2,000 of the estimated 25,000-40,000 insurgents in Afghanistan.

Reintegration was the other half of reconciliation, which is aims to try and broker a peace deal with the senior Taliban leadership.


Suicide bomber kills ex-Afghan President Rabbani - Houston Chronicle

 

[LurkerBaba]

Already posted here http://defenceforumindia.com/intern...esident-burhanuddin-rabbani-killed-blast.html

 

[KS]

R.I.P....Mr.Rabbani.

Warlord or not he supported India over pak and as such deserves respect.

 

[Pakistani Nationalist]

Done by ISI to reign in Taliban who are pro-power sharing and peace. This is not the first time.

Proof?


....

 

[Adux]

Proof?


....

Paki's asking for proof when it comes to Terrorism. Try a google search.

 

[Daredevil]

Proof?


....

And what did you do when proof was provided??

 

[nitesh]

Proof?


....

https://twitter.com/#!/christinalamb/status/116153584181198848

rabbani's killing & kabul attack last wk have ISI's fingerprints all over them US official tells me

 

[hit&run]

Pakistan is an enemy of Afghanistan and India.
.
Both Afghanistan and India has earned their right to punish Pakistan ages ago.
.
We Indian were able to insulate ourselves from these infiltrators the best possible way we can (though they are still infiltrating or over staying their visas illegally) but Afghans due their misfortunes and sheer ignorance (religious, ethnic divide etc.) fell prey to Pakistan.
.
A failure loves others to fail; this is the story of Pakistan (new 'hit&run' quote).

 

[Pakistani Nationalist]

https://twitter.com/#!/christinalamb/status/116153584181198848

Thanks for the tweet.

 

[KS]

Pakistan is an enemy of Afghanistan and India.
.
Both Afghanistan and India has earned their right to punish Pakistan ages ago.
.
.

Afghans are doing it pretty sucessfully in Kunar and Nuristan.

Its only the emotional-atyachar afflicted MMS who bends over backwards for peace with Pak.

 

[pmaitra]

Proof?


....

Paki's asking for proof when it comes to Terrorism. Try a google search.

@PN,

This might help:

Let me google that for you

 

[Pakistani Nationalist]

@PN,

This might help:

Let me google that for you

And the evidence is?

 

[pmaitra]

And the evidence is?

First you ask for proof, then you ask for evidence.

For your perusal: Proof and evidence