[An Nahar] Afghanistan's National Security Council, which is chaired by President Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
, on Sunday accused "foreign intelligence services" of being behind the deadly attack on a Kabul restaurant, in a veiled reference to Pakistain.
Pakistain was the main supporter of the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and Afghan officials have long voiced suspicions about connections between the hardline movement and Islamabad's powerful intelligence services.
"The NSC said such sophisticated and complex attacks are not the work of the ordinary Taliban, and said without doubt foreign intelligence services beyond the border are behind such bloody attacks," a statement from the palace said.
"Beyond the border" is a phrase commonly used by the Afghan government to refer to neighboring Pakistain.
Taliban Death Eaters grabbed credit for Friday evening's suicide assault on a popular Lebanese restaurant in central Kabul in which 21 people, including 13 foreigners, were killed.
Among the dead were three Americans, two British citizens, two Canadians, the International Monetary Fund head of mission, and the Lebanese owner of the Taverna du Liban, which was a popular social venue for expats.
In the deadliest attack on foreign civilians since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, one attacker detonated his boom jacket at the fortified entrance to the restaurant before two other turbans stormed inside and bumped off diners and staff.
The accusation of Pak involvement is likely to damage regional peace efforts as Pakistain, which is battling its own homegrown Taliban insurgency, is seen as crucial to encouraging the Afghan Taliban to open talks.
Many Afghan Taliban leaders seek shelter in Pakistain, and Islamabad's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency is often accused of maintaining ties to the turbans to ensure future influence in Afghanistan after U.S.-led NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
troops withdraw.
Pak officials were not immediately available to comment on the accusations from Kabul, but Islamabad has always denied any links with the Taliban.