Is Pakistan formenting trouble in Afghanistan?
Afghan ex-president survives bomb, blames Pakistan
KABUL, March 12 (Reuters) - A former Afghan president who heads a commission trying to encourage Taliban defections was slightly wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on Sunday that officials said killed two bombers and two civilians.
Sibghatullah Mojadidi, also chairman of the upper house of parliament, was being driven on a busy main road when attackers detonated a car laden with explosivee near his vehicle.
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The Taliban claimed resposibility for the attack on a man it called “an American puppet”, while Mojadidi himself blamed neighbouring Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
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Appearing at a news conference with bandages on his hands which he said covered burns from the blast, he said: "We had received intelligence from six channels that some individuals had entered Afghanistan to kill me by any possible means.
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“Our biggest enemy today is Pakistan’s ISI,” he said adding that the network “was behind all of the attacks” carried out by Taliban and other militants in Afghanistan.
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Pakistan’s foreign ministry rejected the charge.
“We condemn such attacks and loss of innocent lives,” said spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam. “These are baseless allegations and we reject them completely.”
Asked about Mojadidi’s comments, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the blast would be investigated. “We will reveal the investigation and then will speak about it,” he said.
Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah said Mojadidi sought to sow discord among the Taliban. “Attacks against American puppets will continue,” he said.
Mojadidi’s charge against Pakistan follow repeated complaints by Afghanistan’s government that militants plan and organise attacks from sanctuaries inside Pakistan.
Pakistan, which officially ended its support for the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, says it does all it can to stop cross-border movement by militants.
CASUALTIES
Two vehicles in Mojadidi’s convoy were damaged in the blast about 500 metres (yards) from Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel, which completely destroyed the car containing the explosives.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said two suicide attackers and two civilians were killed.
Earlier, Zalmai Oryakhel, the senior police officer for the area, said police suspected an al Qaeda militant allied to the Taliban guerrillas carried out the attack.
Afghanistan has been rocked by a series of suicide attacks aimed at foreign troops and government officials in recent months. Civilians have borne the brunt of the attacks.
The Taliban, waging an insurgency against Karzai’s government since their overthrow by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, have taken responsibility for most of the attacks.
Mojadidi served as president of the first Mujahideen (holy warrior) government that replaced a Soviet-backed regime in 1992. For the past two years, he has headed a commission trying to persuade militants to give up their insurgency.
The government says hundreds of rank-and-file guerrillas have joined the reconciliation programme, but the insurgency has intensified, killing more than 1,500 people since the start of last year, the bloodiest period since the Taliban’s overthrow.
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On Wednesday Karzai called for more Pakistani cooperation in fighting militants after Islamabad derided Kabul’s accusations that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was in Pakistan.
Earlier Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf said relations with Kabul were growing tense and Karzai was “totally oblivious” to efforts by elements in his government to malign Pakistan.
The tension has continued despite a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush to both allies in the war on terrorism in early March aimed at increasing cooperation against militants.