From CSP and The New York Times:
Suicide Attack Kills 9 in Eastern Afghanistan
Rahmat Gul/Associated Press
Afghan soliders secure the area after a suicide bomb attack at the gate of Jalalabad Air Base on Monday.
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and GRAHAM BOWLEY
Published: February 27, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan — Two suicide attackers detonated a car bomb at the entrance to a NATO air base in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, killing at least nine Afghans, officials said.
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Parwiz/Reuters
An Afghan police officer inspects the wreckage of a vehicle after the car bomb attack at Jalalabad Air Base on Monday.
The explosion occurred at about 6:15 a.m. on Monday as workers arrived for their jobs at the Jalalabad Air Base. Witnesses described seeing damaged cars outside the base and said the area had been sealed off as helicopters flew overhead. It was the latest attack on a coalition installation since unrest erupted last week over the burning of several Korans at Bagram, the largest American air base in Afghanistan.
Among the dead on Monday were one member of the Afghan security forces, six civilians and two private security guards, said Ebadullah Talwar, chief of security for Nangarhar Province.
The blast wounded four NATO personnel but initial reports indicated that no NATO service members had been killed, NATO spokesmen said, adding that the base had not been breached.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing as revenge for the burning of the Korans, according to wire service reports.
Sabawoon Hotak, one of the NATO spokesmen, said two suicide attackers were driving a car near the gate to the base when the car exploded.
The attack occurred a day after a grenade thrown by Afghan protesters during a sixth day of virulent demonstrations wounded at least six American service members at a base in northern Afghanistan and as the nationwide manhunt continued for the chief suspect in the shooting of two American military officers working in the Interior Ministry on Saturday.
President Hamid Karzai called for calm during a televised news conference on Sunday, his first since the burning of the Korans. It was a time for self-restraint, he said, “so that it does not provide an opportunity for the enemy to take advantage.”
There appeared to be fewer demonstrations around the country on Monday. But the killings and NATO’s decision to withdraw its advisers from all Afghan ministries after the killing of the two Americans has created a new air of unease here and underscored the new challenges to the relationship between Afghanistan and the United States, with no clear path toward the restoration of mutual trust.
The pullout of advisers cast doubt on one of the most critical parts of the international mission in Afghanistan: the close mentoring and training of the Afghan security forces who would take over responsibility for securing the country and fighting the Taliban after the United States pulls its combat troops out of the country.
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