Breaking: Gunfire near Afhgan president in Kabul

[RB TexLa]

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai was hussled away but escaped unhurt after an assassination attempt during an official celebration in the capital, Kabul, on Sunday.

A Presidential Palace source said Karzai was safe, but the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said three of its fighters were killed.

"Yes, he is safe and fine," said the palace source, declining to be named.

Government ministers along with leaders of other political factions were seen ducking down on a dais after gunfire sounded at the celebration to mark the 16th anniversary of fall of the communist government to the mujahideen.

State television cut off live transmission of the event.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080427/ts_nm/afghan_karzai_dc_3

[gateley]

1. Thanks. Hmmm. nt

[EFerrari]

2. Who didn't see this coming.

:(

[ConsAreLiars]

3. The people of Afghanistan are not noted for servility in the face of an

invasion and occupation. Quite the contrary. Setting up a puppet government there and trying to prop it up by mass murder will be no more successful than it was in Vietnam, Iran, or Latin America.

[EFerrari]

4. I wonder if Junior is funneling more money to that butcher in Colombia

than to the War on Terra in Afghanistan.

Eight months and counting.

[ccharles000]

5. I hope everybody is ok.

[bushmeister0]

6. Karzai is a former UNOCAL consultant, right. Strange bit of timeing here, but

RFE reported two days ago:

"Officials from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan have opened a meeting in Islamabad to discuss a pipeline that would bring Turkmen gas to South Asia.

First proposed some 15 years ago, the project has never been carried out, whether due to instability in Afghanistan or strained ties between Pakistan and India. But the parties involved feel that now may be the time to finally carry out the project, which would benefit all four countries.

The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project certainly would help the consumer countries, Pakistan and India, while Turkmenistan could make billions of dollars from gas exports. But arguably it would benefit Afghanistan most by providing steady transit fees to fill depleted state coffers in Kabul.

However, the security situation in Afghanistan, long a major obstacle to TAPI, remains as much a problem today as it’s ever been.

'If we consider the present security situation of Afghanistan, I think it is too much to consider that this project can be done,' Afghan analyst Waliullah Rahmani tells RFE/RL's Turkmen Service. 'It will cross from Kandahar and Herat. The southern cities and provinces of Afghanistan are completely unstable.'

Nonetheless, oil ministers, officials, and experts from the four countries have begun to discuss a range of issues regarding the proposed project during two days of talks in Islamabad."

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/4/022f20c7-be7f-4438-8af9-7c367a33cdd2.html