NATO troops killed in Afghanistan

By Sayed Salahuddin and Tim Craig

A suicide bomber killed three coalition soldiers near the U.S. embassy in Kabul on Tuesday morning, and a fourth soldier died late Monday when an Afghan soldier opened fire on NATO forces.

The violence, the deadliest aimed at NATO troops in more than two months, highlights the continued vulnerability of American troops serving in Afghanistan.

The suicide attack jolted Kabul about 8:15 a.m. when a car packed with explosives detonated next to convoy of armored vehicles. The blast occurred as the convoy left a heavily fortified area near the U.S. embassy and other government buildings, witnesses and Afghan officials said.

“It was a very powerful blast and happened just as the vehicles sped out of the embassy,” Taj Mohammad an eye witness who works as civil servant said.

Television footage in the aftermath of the attack showed mangled vehicles and coalition troops providing first aid to two soldiers whose bodies were lying next the road. At least 13 Afghan civilians were also wounded, according to spokesman for Kabul police Hashmat Stanekzai.

The Afghan Taliban took credit for the attack, saying the suicide bomber had waiting in his vehicle “a long time” in search of coalition forces.

The attack resulted in the greatest coalition loss of life in a single attack since July 8, when five soldiers from Czechoslovakia were killed during a Taliban assault on Bagram air base on the outskirts of Kabul, according to Icasualities.org, which tracks coalition casualities.

Though there has been a rapid drawdown of coalition forces this year, about 41,000 foreign troops from 44 countries remain in the country. About three-fourths of them are Americans, and President Obama announced this summer he plans to keep up to 10,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan into 2015.

The international coalition declined to identify the nationalities of the soldiers who were killed.

The blast, which could be heard for miles and sent a large plume of smoke towering over downtown Kabul during rush hour, occurred less than 24-hours after a coalition soldier died in an apparent “insider attack” in western Afghanistan.

Coalition officials said the soldier died Monday after a man wearing an Afghan Army uniform shot him. It’s believed to be first such attack since Aug. 5, when an Afghan soldier shot and killed a two-star American general.

In that incident, Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene was shot by an Afghan soldier during a joint training exercise. Greene was the highest-ranking U.S. service member to be killed in the Afghan war. About a dozen other coalition soldiers, including at least five Americans, were wounded in that attack.

According to Long War Journal, an online publication focused on counterterrorism, there have been 88 insider attacks since 2008, resulting in 142 coalition fatalities. Such attacks — referred to “green on blue” assaults — peaked in 2012 but have slowed dramatically over the past two years.

In a recent interview, Afghan army spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi said combatting the threat has been a chief priority of the country’s military.

“We are deeply concerned about this because it affects the mutual trust between soldiers,” Azimi said.

The violence targeting coalition troops this week comes as Afghans are eagerly awaiting the conclusion of the country’s election to replace outgoing President Hamid Karzai.

Former finance minister Ashraf Ghani and former foreign secretary Abdullah Abdullah have been locked in a heated dispute over the validity of the results of the runoff election in June. Ghani easily prevailed, but Abdullah has alleged the election was corrupted by widespread fraud.

In recent days, however, Ghani and Abdullah have made significant progress in the formation of a national unity government, according to a Karzai spokesman and campaign officials.

Once finalized, the deal calls for the top vote-getter to serve as president and the second-place finisher to serve in newly created chief executive position. The inauguration of the new president could be held as early as next week.