Kabul attacks aimed to show Taliban 'defiance'

KABUL — Friday's deadly suicide attack on two guesthouses in the Afghan capital showed the Taliban were still defiant despite recent military setbacks and the arrest of senior leaders, analysts said.The attacks, which killed 16 people including Westerners and Indian in central Kabul, also highlighted India as a target for the rebels, they said.The Islamist militia, which has been waging a bitter insurgency against the US-backed Afghan government and more than 121,000 foreign troops based in the country, claimed responsibility for the attack.India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna confirmed that nine Indians, including government officials, were killed in the raids."This is the third attack on Indian officials and interests in Afghanistan in the past 20 months," he said, referring to two previous car-bomb attacks on its embassy in Kabul."These barbaric attacks are... the handiwork of those who are desperate to undermine the friendship between India and Afghanistan," he said, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.A French film director and an Italian government adviser, along with three Afghan police officers and two others who have yet to be identified by nationality were also killed.It was the first attack on the Afghan capital since February 13, when a major US-led military operation was launched in southern Helmand province to clear the Taliban out of one their drug-producing strongholds.The Kabul attack also comes after the arrest of a number of senior Taliban leaders in Pakistan, in what appears to be a cooperative effort between the Pakistan and US governments to break the back of the Islamist movement.Operation Mushtarak, involving 15,000 US, NATO and Afghan troops led by US Marines, was winding down Saturday after control of the Marjah area was handed over to civilian authorities Thursday.The military phase is the first in a broader plan to follow up battlefield success with the re-establishment of Afghan sovereignty and civilian services including police, hospitals, schools and commercial activity. U

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