Kabul attack beyond Taliban ability: NSC

KABUL (Pajhwok): The National Security Council (NSC) on Sunday accused ‘foreign intelligence services’ of being behind the deadly attack on a restaurant popular with foreigners in the Wazir Akbar Khan diplomatic district in Kabul.

The NSC, chaired by President Hamid Karzai at the Presidential Palace, said such sophisticated and complex attacks were beyond the ability of ordinary Taliban insurgents.

Without doubt, the body said foreign intelligence services across the border were behind such bloody attacks, a statement issued from the Presidential Palace said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for Friday’s suicide assault that killed 21 people, including 13 foreigners and eight Afghans.

At the NSC meeting, President Karzai demanded an immediate end to US airstrikes and night raids targeting Afghan homes. He said he would not sign the bilateral security agreement with the US until his demands were met.

A government-created investigation team presented before the NSC council its findings about a joint Afghan-US forces operation that resulted in civilians deaths in central Parwan province last week.

The panel head, Abdul Sattar Khawasi, a lawmaker from Parwan, said a dozen civilians, including women and children, had been killed in the Jan 15 operation.

However, ISAF said the operation had been requested by the provincial governor seeking to improve security in the lead up to the April elections.

The governor told Pajhwok Afghan News he had not been consulted in person about the operation.

The probe team also said the offensive had not been coordinated with local officials before being conducted.

But ISAF said it was deliberate clearing operation approved by the Ministry of Defence in Kabul.

The governor said the operation might be planned in Kabul, but he had no prior knowledge about it.

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