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Afghanistan security concerns raised
Updated: 2003-11-26 08:15
KABUL: With a landmark conference to ratify Afghanistan's first post-war
constitution just two weeks away, concerns over possible terror attacks by the
ousted Taliban or their al-Qaida allies have increased in this
capital.
Armoured vehicles of the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) were seen around the city Monday, while soldiers in
bullet-proof vests carefully checked parked vehicles on main streets near the
presidential palace in downtown Kabul.
A rocket attack last Saturday at
the Kabul Intercontinental Hotel in the west of the city shattered not only
windowpanes of guest-rooms in the capital's only three-star hotel, but also
hopes in the war-weary nation for improved security and durable peace, local
observers here said.
"It was a warning shot that terrorist groups are all
set to sabotage the constitutional Loya Jirga (grand assembly) in order to
degrade President Karzai's transitional government," said Afghan journalist
Mohammad Daud, who works for a local weekly.
Over 100 guests, mostly
foreigners, were evacuated from the hotel soon after the rocket explosion which
took place less than 10 metres from its main building, witnesses said.
An
investigation into the incident is underway but officials pointed their fingers
to the Taliban, which was ousted two years ago by a US-led military campaign, or
other extremist militant groups.
Daud, a former refugee who returned from
Iran after the Taliban's collapse, said developments in Afghanistan "are
unpredictable."
The US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, in a
bid to put the war-ravaged country on track, is to hold the constitutional Loya
Jirga next month, which is expected to pave the way for next year's general
elections.
Observers here predict that terror groups and anti-government
elements will intensify their subversive activities to tarnish the image of the
government and sabotage the upcoming event.
"If terrorists managed to
target the Intercontinental Hotel where security arrangements were tight, they
will definitely be able to disrupt the venue of the Loya Jirga," said Mohammad
Shafi, a retired engineer.
The constitutional Loya Jirga will be held in
the compound of Kabul Polytechnic, several hundred metres west of the
Intercontinental Hotel.
The Karzai government's failure to dislodge
guerrilla fighters of the Taliban from mountainous border areas in southern and
southeastern provinces has put the holding of a Loya Jirga at stake, Shafi
said.
While intelligence reports indicated terror groups were planning
attacks against foreign missions in the capital city, attacks against the
government, foreign troops and aid workers have been on the rise in recent
months.
A United Nations refugee worker was shot and killed in broad daylight
more than one week ago in a southern province by two Taliban gunmen, becoming
the first foreign UN staff member killed in Afghanistan after the Taliban's
collapse.
Qari Shamsul Haq, a refugee who returned from Pakistan last
year said he was planning to leave the country again.
"The situation here
will not improve as explosions, rocket attacks and killings of innocent people
and even UN aid workers are going on unchecked," Haq said with a
sigh.
The peacekeeping ISAF troops, which have been maintaining security
in Kabul since late 2001, last week found two remote control rockets in a ruined
house close to Camp Julien, the base of ISAF's Canadian contingent on the
southwestern outskirts of the city, reports said.
ISAF later issued a
warning to foreigners in the capital city, asking them to avoid any unnecessary
walking outside their enclaves and to pay more attention to their
security.
Earlier, South Korea closed its embassy here and evacuated most
of its diplomats on fears of possible terror attacks after Soul decided to send
troops to Iraq to help US efforts there.
However, the 5,500 ISAF troops
would assist Afghan security authorities to secure the convening of the
constitutional Loya Jirga, ISAF spokesman Colonel Joerg Langer
said.
Mullah Omar, the Taliban's supreme leader who is believed to be
hiding in southern border areas, has reportedly called for a boycott of the Loya
Jirga by the Afghan people.
Omar, who earlier announced a jihad, or holy
war, against the US-backed government and US-led coalition forces in the
country, reportedly denounced the newly announced draft constitution, calling
the forthcoming Loya Jirga a "crusader's drama" under US influence.
(Xinhua)
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