Remember “Muhammad Bombhead Comes to Life”?
Back in July, an Afghan suicide bomber used a turban to conceal the explosives that he used to kill the mayor of Kandahar. We had the story here. What a disgusting way to commit homicide.
It’s happened again. This time, the target was former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani. He had also served as the political head of the Northern Alliance and an associate of Defense Minister Ahmad Shah Massood, who had also been assassinated in a suicide attack on September 9, 2001.
Now I have no illusions about Rabbani, Massoud, or anybody else in Afghan public life. Hard-core mujahideen all; none were or are secularists, none have respected the rights of non-Muslims, of dissidents, or of women and girls. But even in those dismal environs, the Taliban are in a class by themselves when it comes to perfidy.
Fox News has the story:
Suicide Bomber Kills Ex-Afghan President Rabbani
KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide attacker with a bomb in his turban posed as a Taliban peace envoy and assassinated a former Afghan president who for the past year headed a government council seeking a political settlement with the insurgents.
Tuesday’s attack, carried out in former President Burhanuddin Rabbani’s Kabul home, dealt a harsh blow to attempts at ending a decade of war. The killing of Rabbani, an ethnic Tajik and one of the wise old men of Afghan politics, will blunt efforts to keep in check the regional and ethnic rivalries that help feed the insurgency.
President Hamid Karzai cut short a visit to the United Nations and called on Afghans to remain unified in the face of Rabbani’s “martyrdom.” An emergency Cabinet meeting was called for Wednesday.
The attack came days after a daytime assault by insurgents on the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters that deepened a sense of insecurity in the capital.
NATO said in a statement that two suicide bombers were involved in the attack on Rabbani, both of them men who had feigned a desire to reconcile with the government. It was unclear if a second bomber was able to detonate his explosives.
Afghan officials, however, insisted there was only one attacker. Four men were wounded, including a key presidential adviser, said Mohammad Zahir, the head of criminal investigations for the Kabul police. Initial reports had four bodyguards killed but Zahir said those were incorrect.
Close friends of Rabbani said that the former president returned from a trip to Iran to meet with a man who had been described as a high-ranking Taliban contact. The visitor, a young man, was shown into the house by two of Rabbani’s associates at the Afghan High Peace Council, who insisted that he did not need to be fully searched, said a friend who spoke anonymously because he was not a spokesman.
When Rabbani appeared, the man shook the former president’s hand and bowed as a sign of respect, said Fazel Karim Aimaq, a former lawmaker from Kunduz province and friend of Rabbani.
“Then his turban exploded,” Aimaq said. The blast broke windows in Rabbani’s home and shook nearby houses.
As the leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, Rabbani sought a political deal with the Taliban — with U.S. blessing — and he will be hard to replace soon. His death could unleash a well of resentment among some senior Northern Alliance members, who accuse Karzai of colluding with the Taliban.
IBN TV: Ex-Afghanistan President Rabbani killed
Uploaded by ibnlive on Sep 20, 2011
Two Afghan government sources say former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani has been killed in the capital Kabul. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Rabbani was killed Tuesday evening at his home in Kabul.
Rabbani on RT: Last TV talk before brutal death
Uploaded by RussiaToday on Sep 20, 2011
Days before he was brutally killed, Former Afghan President and head of the High Peace Council Burhanuddin Rabbani told RT’s sister channel Russia Al Youm that despite the difficulties, he had high hopes for the peace process in his country. President Rabbani led Afghanistan during the 1990s. Most recently, he ran the country’s peace council, attempting to negotiate a political solution between the government and the Taliban. The High Peace Council was intended to open a dialogue with insurgents who had been trying to bring down his government since the US-led invasion overthrew their regime in late 2001. It was inaugurated in 2010, amid mounting reports of secret peace talks with Taliban leaders and key insurgent groups. Delivering his acceptance speech, Rabbani said he was “confident” that peace was possible — and he continued to believe and work towards achieving that peace until the end.
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