Attempt on intelligence chief devised in Pakistan, says Karzai

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai during a press meet at the presidential palace in Kabul on Dec. 8, 2012.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday that the assassination attempt on the country’s intelligence chief was planned in neighbouring Pakistan.

Mr. Karzai did not provide any evidence to back up his claim, and was careful not to accuse the Pakistani government of having any role in Thursday’s suicide attack. But he said he would raise the issue with high-ranking Pakistani officials.

Speaking to reporters at the presidential palace, Mr. Karzai said Asadullah Khalid, head of the National Directorate of Security, was recovering from wounds he sustained when the bomber posing as a messenger of peace detonated explosives that he had hidden inside his body. The Afghan intelligence agency said earlier that the explosives were hidden in the bomber’s underwear.

The attack was a setback to fragile efforts to reconcile with insurgents and find a political resolution to the war in Afghanistan, now in its 12th year.

“We will be seeking a lot of clarifications from Pakistan because we know that this man who came there in the name of a guest to meet with Asudullah Khalid came from Pakistan,” Mr. Karzai said. “We know that for a fact.”

“Where is this intelligence service? Is it in our neighborhood, or somewhere else. We need to find out,” he said.

The bomber managed to get close to Mr. Khalid by saying he wanted to discuss the Afghan government’s efforts to work out a peace deal with the Taliban, the Afghan intelligence service said.

Thursday’s assassination attempt was reminiscent of the September 2011 killing of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who at the time was the leader of a government-appointed peace council seeking reconciliation with militants. In that attack, an insurgent posing as a Taliban peace envoy detonated a bomb that was hidden in his turban as he met Mr. Rabbani at his Kabul home.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on Mr. Khalid, but Mr. Karzai said it was not likely carried out by a simple, illiterate Taliban fighter.

“This is a very sophisticated and complicated act by a professional intelligence service,” he said. “Where is this intelligence service? Is it in our neighbourhood, or somewhere else. We need to find out.”