Governor Hakim Taniwal, a former mines minister who once lectured in an Australian university, is the first provincial chief killed since the Taliban fell five years ago, although there have been many assassinations attempts around the country.It's curious as to why the Taliban would think that massing their forces would be a good idea, but I'm not going to complain. The Taliban and their supporters in the media think that this offensive is a good thing, but it is a good thing for Afghanistan as the more Taliban are eliminated, the better things will be for Afghanistan in the long run.
His driver also died when the bomber threw himself on the governor of Paktia province, bordering Pakistan, as he was entering his car, police said.
The killing came as NATO said its forces and Afghan soldiers killed 94 Taliban insurgents in a battle in the southern province of Kandahar, the Taliban's heartland, in its biggest offensive against the rejuvenated Islamist movement.
Backed by close air support, the militants were killed in two areas of Kandahar in four encounters that started on Saturday and lasted until just after dawn on Sunday, NATO said in a statement. NATO did not say if there were any casualties among NATO and Afghan forces in the battle centering on Zari and Panjwai districts.
Bill Roggio has more, including the prospect of an al Qaeda car bomb cell active in Kabul and that the rules of engagement/convoy protection rules changed in the wake of an accident this past May that sparked a riot may have given the terrorists an opening to attack convoys.
Technorati: afghanistan, operation medusa, nato
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