Monday, July 07, 2008

suicide attack on indian embassy

A Taliban suicide car bomb has hit the Indian Embassy in Kabul, killing 41 people and wounding 141. The bomber rammed his car into the embassy just as two diplomatic vehicles were entering the compound. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack. The Health Ministry said 28 people were killed and 141 wounded, but a senior police official said the death toll was 41.

This was a very organised attack. The authorities admitted that the attack was coordinated the precision, timing and target of the attack has so overwhelmed the authorities that they now link it to Pakistan secret service. Among many Indian embassy staff is the military attaché too.

The attack has also killed many children too who were on their way to school. I am attaching some picture to help visualise the crime. This is such a cruel act of inhumanity that I don’t want to write about how wrong it is. but there is one question in my mind; given the precision of the attack, Taliban or whoever is behind the attack got what they wanted the death of civilians is a collateral damage which is trivial for achieving a larger goal. I have been on both sides of the claim I could easily condemn the attack and the larger goal of the attacker. I have been to such scenes and I was so shocked and the only thing I wanted was no more attack. There are many people in Afghanistan today who don’t like violence because inevitability innocent people are going to die in the process. these people are foreigners favourite. The foreign community love people who don’t like to pursue violence to resolve conflicts while they themselves are happy to do so. If you are an afghan intellegencia or part of civil society then you condemn violence and don’t Taliban. in return taliban are accusing them of being weak and playing in the hands of invaders, which is true to some extent.

However I have been to the other side of the argument too. After 9/11 I did not feel sorry at all I thought it was an incident which had some collateral damage which compared to my experience was nothing. In my life time over two million of my compatriots have died and half of the country have fled. I believed 9/11 is good for Afghanistan. the world would be so pissed off that they won’t tolerate Taliban and Afghanistan is going to be a better place without Taliban. I have no sympathy and connection with people who died on 9/11 what so ever, while I am deeply connected with two million people who died in my country in my life time.

My response right now to this incident is; if my little brother comes home safe and he is not among dead and wounded children, this is a nice attack with horrific collateral damage. This is an unfair world and everybody pursues an agenda and collateral damage happen it was just yesterday that Americans bombed a village and killed 25 people in wedding when they suspected it of a Taliban gathering in Nangarhar province; it was the day before yesterday that Americans bombed a village in nuristan and killed 15 people in a mistaken attack.

5 comments:

Banno said...

This is an extremely honest response to the brutality you see around you every day. For those of us who do not live in a state of perpetual war, it is easy to pass judgment.

Unknown said...

A very frank post and as an Indian sitting in comfort of bangalore, this not only shows the brutality of perpetrators but also how it makes ordinary humans as immune to this brutality especially as is done for the cause of religion.

Anonymous said...

are we human or objects of collateral damage? i think this depends where you live. in the US we are human and if alqaida kills a few humans the nation gets furious and has retaliated and prevent any future act which would harm human. however in a place like afghanistan, we are not humans, we are object of collateral damage. civilians are killed by all sides in the conflict with no regard.

Anonymous said...

there is a difference between americans killing civilians and taliban killing civilians. taliban do not give a toss and they have repeatedly said why should the civilian casualty be a problem after all they are martyr and they will go to heaven. taliban do not care if civilians are around when they attack their targets. this is while NATO and americans have a different attitude, they apologise and they sometimes pay a compensation and promise to be careful in the future.

James said...

Two weeks ago in Pakistan a leading anti-Taliban cleric was killed by a suicide bomber. CNN’s Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson visited his son at the school where his father was killed and found surprises in security and nuances in attitudes toward suicide bombers.