Taliban suicide bombers kill 7 in Kabul after Obama visit

Taliban bombers attacked a heavily fortified guesthouse used by Westerners in Kabul Wednesday, announcing the start of their annual “spring offensive” in defiance of calls from visiting US President Barack Obama that the war was ending. Seven people were killed after attackers in burqas detonated a suicide car bomb and clashed with guards at the “Green Village” complex of guesthouses used by the European Union, the UN and aid groups, officials said. The assault raises fresh concern about the resilience of the insurgency on the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death as NATO winds down its combat presence in the next two years and hands over responsibility for security to Afghan forces. The Taliban said the assault was a riposte to Obama, who just hours earlier signed a new partnership pact in Kabul to govern Afghan-US relations after 2014 – a deal the insurgents dismissed as “illegitimate.” In an election-year address, Obama presented himself as a commander-in-chief capable of ending two long wars, following the US withdrawal from Iraq, and crushing Al-Qaeda, and tried to conjure up a new dawn for a US public exhausted by conflict and recession. “This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end,” Obama said, recalling a decade-long “dark cloud of war” after bin Laden plotted the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. “Yet here, in the predawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon,” said Obama, seeking a second White House term later this year. Obama flew into Kabul in secret in the dead of night and signed the deal with President Hamid Karzai, cementing 10 years of US aid for Afghanistan after NATO combat troops leave in 2014. Most Afghans were asleep and he left after about six hours. “We look forward to a future of peace. We’re agreeing to be long-term partners,” Obama said. The Taliban said Karzai had no right to sign the deal and accused him of selling Afghan sovereignty to the US The militants vowed to continue their armed struggle “against all the contents of this illegitimate document until the full withdrawal of all invading forces and their puppets” – referring to the Karzai government. The Green Village assault began around two hours after Obama left. Police said suicide attackers wearing burqas struck at 6:15 a.m. (0145 GMT), detonating a car bomb before clashing with guards. The Interior Ministry said seven people were killed, including at least six Afghans. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP the attack was a message to Obama to say the militants would continue to fight until all foreign forces had left. The militia said its spring offensive, would from Thursday target “foreign invaders, their advisers, their contractors, all those who help them militarily and in intelligence.” The White House said the pact allows for the possibility of American forces staying behind to train Afghan forces and pursue the remnants of Al-Qaeda for 10 years after 2014. It could also leave the door open for continued drone strikes against insurgent targets in Pakistan after 2014, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker indicated Wednesday. “There is nothing in this agreement that precludes the right of self-defense for either party and if there are attacks from the territory of any state aimed at us we have the inherent right of self-defense and will employ it,” he said. The Strategic Partnership Agreement states that the United States will not use its presence in Afghanistan to launch offensive actions against other states from Afghan soil. However, it does say that in the event of threats to Afghanistan the two countries would consult on an appropriate response. “This is defensive in nature, not offensive, doesn’t threaten any one, but I hope the region takes notice,” Crocker said. Karzai also said the US pact was no threat to any third country and he hoped it would lead to stability in the region. Neighboring Pakistan has long been seen as a source of instability in Afghanistan, and its relationship with both Kabul and Washington remains mired in mistrust a year after bin Laden was found and killed by U.S. commandos on its soil. More than 1,500 supporters from a pro-Taliban Islamic party rallied Thursday in southwestern Pakistan to condemn bin Laden’s killing.