Obama recently declared: “We achieved our central goal … or have come very close to achieving our central goal, which is to de-capacitate al Qaeda, to dismantle them, to make sure that they can’t attack us again.” What about the Taliban?
“Coordinated Kabul suicide attack targets government building,” by Hamid Shalizi for Reuters, January 21 (thanks to Lookmann):
(Reuters) – Suicide bombers and gunmen launched an eight-hour assault on the headquarters of the Kabul traffic police on Monday, Afghan officials said, in the second coordinated attack on a government building in less than a week.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the operation In which all five attackers and three traffic police officers were killed, interior ministry officials said….
Last week, six suicide bombers attacked the National Directorate of Security (NDS), killing two guards. That attack followed December’s failed assassination attempt on NDS chief Asadullah Khalid….
Monday’s attack began when three men detonated suicide bombs outside the main entrance and was followed by the two remaining attackers storming the unfortified area, Deputy Interior Minister General Abdul Rahman said.
The pair, armed with automatic rifles, battled security forces outside the building nestled between two police hubs and close to parliament and a road commonly used by Afghan MPs….
“Honestly speaking, this type of attack, at the start of the year, indicates the coming months are going to be tough,” a government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The Taliban will want to display their presence and reach with these kinds of attacks in Kabul.”
No kidding, really?