It was December 6, when an ill-intentioned person as usual Taliban, cloaked as peace emissary, succeeded in approaching the head of National Directorate of Security (NDS), Asadullah Khalid, having 2.5kg explosive hidden in his underpants, blew up himself in the course of conversation, leading to serious injury of NDS's chief, being the target.
The former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani was also killed, in a suicide bomb attack, in an identical dexterity, in his home close to the American embassy in Kabul on Tuesday, September 20, 2011, with explosive concealed in turban. Who else could undertake such an inhuman and antistatic activity except Taliban who claimed responsibility for the bombing?
The incidence presented a dismal picture of security arrangement within the country, raising several questions. If top security officials can't defend themselves, how can they defend VIPs and ordinary citizens? How the bomber could pass security scrutiny? Why could not the security cameras and scanners detect the explosives? Who had set that arbitrary appointment? These questions are yet waiting reasonable answers after a week from incident has passed. Moreover, a serious question relative to functioning of such a high invested institution, whose performance is nerve-racking, can't be underrated.
Immediately after the incident, Kabul alleged that the assassination attempt on National Directorate of Security's (NDS) head Asadullah Khalid was planned in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province. Though it is possible that Kabul's allegation may be right, yet Afghan officials have also used the blame game to avoid responsibilities. The important thing is to highlight the negligence and lapses in the security arrangements around the NDS chief.
Afghan officials need to be very much diplomatic in this regard. It has to make sure that the culprit must be punished but at the same time it must try to display prudent diplomatic tactics.
It is true that Pak-Afgan border has been safe heavens for insurgents, involved in serious activities violating the sovereignty of two neighboring countries. However, Afghanistan has been angered by cross-border raids, assumed to be carried out by Afghan insurgent groups backed by agency of neighboring country to advance its interests in the country.
Recently, President Karzai has handed the documents about last week's attack on spymaster to his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari, in Ankara at Tripartite summit, who pledged to render every possible co-operation. It is healthier with hypothesis being transformed into solid proofs that helps to narrows the rifts of misunderstanding and strengthening cordial relationship between two countries, aimed at bringing the perpetrators to justice. Blaming each other might harden the worsened situation.