Taliban Attack Kabul Hotel, Take Hostages

[Shah-i-Kot]

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/3551...an-taliban.htm


Taliban Attack Kabul Hotel, Take Hostages

June 21, 2012 9:06 PM EDT
Taliban gunmen who attacked a popular lakeside hotel on the outskirts of Kabul are holding several hostages, thought to include women and children, and some people have been killed, Afghan police said Friday.


"It would be very easy for police to kill them, but we are afraid because there are civilians, including women and children, trapped inside. We are waiting for daylight," Gen. Mohammad Zahir, head of the Kabul police investigation unit, told Reuters.
"According to the information we have, they have martyred some of them," he said, meaning an unknown number of civilians had been killed.
"Insurgents armed with RPG rockets, and heavy and light weapons, are inside the Spozhmai Hotel and fighting with security forces. We don't know their numbers and if there have been casualties," Zahir said earlier.

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Zahir told AFP the attack began around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, when suicide attackers armed with rockets and Kalashnikov rifles stormed a gathering at the Hotel. At least one of the attackers detonated his explosive suicide vest, he said.
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Kabul deputy police chief Daoud Amin said that according to hotel guards, there were three attackers inside the hotel, as well as numerous civilians.
Zahir said there was a private party for wealthy Afghans underway inside the hotel when the attack began. Many guests jumped into Lake Qargha to escape.
The attack had been under way for more than four hours as dawn broke over Kabul.
The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, Reuters reported, saying wealthy Afghans and foreigners used the hotel in the Qargha Lake district to have "wild parties" in the leadup to the Friday holy day of Islam.
Attacks across Afghanistan have surged in recent days, with three U.S. soldiers and more than a dozen civilians killed in successive attacks, mostly in the country's east, which has so far been a focus for NATO-led forces during the summer fighting months.
President Hamid Karzai said in a speech to a special session of parliament on Thursday that attacks by insurgents against local police and soldiers were increasing as foreign combat troops prepare to exit the country in 2014.
Insurgents attacked Kabul's heavily-protected diplomatic and government district on April 15 in an assault eventually quelled by Afghan special forces, guided by Western mentors.
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[Shah-i-Kot]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/wo..._131669347.htm
Gunbattle continues at Kabul suburban hotel

English.news.cn 2012-06-22 08:56:59 KABUL, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Explosions followed by continuing gunshots have been heard near a hotel in the Qargha Lake area in the western outskirts of Kabul early Friday, an Afghan security official told Xinhua.
The official, who asked not to be named, said that casualties are feared as some Taliban militants are still fighting with the security forces at the hotel about 10 km west of downtown Kabul.

[randolph85]

way to win those hearts n minds.

[MostafaM]

"Our mujahideen [holy warriors] last night attacked this hotel because high-profile people from embassies, ISAF and the Kabul administration gather here every Thursday for wild parties, drinking and prostitution," Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, told AFP news agency.

A close friend of my cousin survived this attack.

And it´s horrible to see these apes lying about who was present there.
As if three guards are manning the gate if governmental officials or ISAF people have "wild parties" there.

Disgusting and honourless attack!

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/06/2012621223821763757.html

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

way to win those hearts n minds.

Most people cannot afford to spend nights in fancy hotels and restaurants in Qargha.

SO when they hear that the people who have been exploiting them for the past 10 years are being targeted, obviously they will cheer and be happy.

[drona]

^
I don't think common Pashtuns will "cheer and be happy" over death and destruction.

Anyways , seems like that hotel has been cleansed. Reports vary but about 15-20 people killed.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/22/afghanistan-hotel-idINDEE85L08M20120622

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/taliban-insurgents-attack-kabul-hotel/2012/06/22/gJQAUVrWuV_story.html?tid=pm_world_pop

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9348360/Eighteen-dead-after-Taliban-militants-launch-suicide-attack-on-popular-restaurant.html

[Admin Khan]

"Our mujahideen [holy warriors] last night attacked this hotel because high-profile people from embassies, ISAF and the Kabul administration gather here every Thursday for wild parties, drinking and prostitution," Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, told AFP news agency.

A close friend of my cousin survived this attack.

And it´s horrible to see these apes lying about who was present there.
As if three guards are manning the gate if governmental officials or ISAF people have "wild parties" there.

Disgusting and honourless attack!

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2...821763757.html

Beyond disgusting. Many innocent civilians go there for picnics, it's sort of like what Arghandab is for Kandaharis. It's the one thing they all look forward too, in this war-torn nation. But no, let's blow it up under the pretext of Jihad while just across the line exists one of the biggest brothels in Asia, in the fort of Islam(Sarcasm for Pakistan), just behind the Badshahi Mosque. I guess these clowns have somehow justified those red-light, active, districts in Pakistan as "acceptable in their religion", yet a picnic hub with a resort is considered Holy Jihad.

[khushal]

Beyond disgusting. Many innocent civilians go there for picnics, it's sort of like what Arghandab is for Kandaharis. It's the one thing they all look forward too, in this war-torn nation. But no, let's blow it up under the pretext of Jihad while just across the line exists one of the biggest brothels in Asia, in the fort of Islam(Sarcasm for Pakistan), just behind the Badshahi Mosque. I guess these clowns have somehow justified those red-light, active, districts in Pakistan as "acceptable in their religion", yet a picnic hub with a resort is considered Holy Jihad.

The problem goes deeper than just "jihad" or "islam". That is just rhetoric and political tools that people use. We must ask why these people have support that they are beyond a nuisance for the afghan governmnet and NATO.

It is about people that have not been given their fair share of representation. If your an average pashtun in afghanistan and you look at the government as your government and they deny you foreign scholarships and an equal access to education, they deny you the recognition of your kins blood being spilled for freeing the nation from the soviets occupation, and bringing an end to the civil war after najib's fall, they deny you the protection from harrassment by foreign military forces, etc.

I ask you why would these people support the government. I know you and I have criticized the pakistani government for the way of treating its people But when I think about this and the more I read and talk to people, I realize that the afghan government treats pashtuns far worse than the pakistani governmnet treats its pashtuns. That is a shame.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Beyond disgusting. Many innocent civilians go there for picnics, it's sort of like what Arghandab is for Kandaharis. It's the one thing they all look forward too, in this war-torn nation. But no, let's blow it up under the pretext of Jihad while just across the line exists one of the biggest brothels in Asia, in the fort of Islam(Sarcasm for Pakistan), just behind the Badshahi Mosque. I guess these clowns have somehow justified those red-light, active, districts in Pakistan as "acceptable in their religion", yet a picnic hub with a resort is considered Holy Jihad.

The Mehsud Taliban destroyed Peshawars Pearl Continental where Sherpao and other northern Pakistani elites aiding the West regularly partied.

[Admin Khan]

I ask you why would these people support the government. I know you and I have criticized the pakistani government for the way of treating its people But when I think about this and the more I read and talk to people, I realize that the afghan government treats pashtuns far worse than the pakistani governmnet treats its pashtuns. That is a shame.

I'm not a big fan of the government either. The problem here is frustration. In between this tug of war, civilians have suffered. This attack happens to be the perfect example. The Afghan government thinks wiping off a village means eradicating the problem, the rag-tag insurgency thinks attacking a hotel will prove a point. It's the civilians that are suffering, Afghan nationals to be precise. The government is corrupt, and only an Afghan spear-headed solution will resolve this problem. The problem is far more deeper than scholarships, it's frustration that encompasses various things. Like I've said before, one of the biggest reasons people often times turn to the Taliban is because of their lack of trust in the current Afghan regime. However, when you attack a hotel; that doesn't make you any different than what the government is doing. Illiteracy at it's best, dare I say.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Additionally, ISAF and the Afghan emigre elite + NDS are controlling information flow at this juncture. One must recall that years ago when that pair of African embassies was targeted in the 1990s an attempt was made by the elites and Intelligence folks to spin it as a senseless attack on civilians. Turns out years later that the US intelligence community admits that those two embassies were essential to their monitoring and control of African governments and that agents admittedly were stationed there. The truth about Spozhmai will reveal itself in a decade.

The problem goes deeper than just "jihad" or
"islam". That is just rhetoric and political tools that people use. We must ask why these people have support that they are beyond a nuisance for the afghan governmnet and NATO.

It is about people that have not been given their fair share of representation. If your an average pashtun in afghanistan and you look at the government as your government and they deny you foreign scholarships and an equal access to education, they deny you the recognition of your kins blood being spilled for freeing the nation from the soviets occupation, and bringing an end to the civil war after najib's fall, they deny you the protection from harrassment by foreign military forces, etc.

I ask you why would these people support the government. I know you and I have criticized the pakistani government for the way of treating its people But when I think about this and the more I read and talk to people, I realize that the afghan government treats pashtuns far worse than the pakistani governmnet treats its pashtuns. That is a shame.

[Admin Khan]

The Mehsud Taliban destroyed Peshawars Pearl Continental where Sherpao and other northern Pakistani elites aiding the West regularly partied.

And that clearly didn't wipe off the root cause, if the problem is partying, why attack a hotel when brothels are widely available? The Taliban here is doing something beyond attacking a hotel, it's so to speak, their way of flexing their muscles to show they are legitimate resistance and won't let things go their way.

My problem, and the underlying reason behind my post was civilians. It's civilians who suffer at the wrath of insurgents, or ANSF.

[Admin Khan]

Additionally, ISAF and the Afghan emigre elite + NDS are controlling information flow at this juncture. One must recall that years ago when that pair of African embassies was targeted in the 1990s an attempt was made by the elites and Intelligence folks to spin it as a senseless attack on civilians. Turns out years later that the US intelligence community admits that those two embassies were essential to their monitoring and control of African governments and that agents admittedly were stationed there. The truth about Spozhmai will reveal itself in a decade.

That's true. If it turns out this was something beyond an attack on civilians, my post will be nullified. Knowing Afghans, I happen to know that Fridays are their "hanging-out days", and I also know that Qargha is the Kabul equivalent of Kandahar's Arghandab picnic. So civilians do indeed go out there to enjoy their day off, that much I can verify -- the rest is up for grabs.

Another reason, which also holds weight, is prostitution. Perhaps this hotel was infested with prostitutes, and the Taliban had enough.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Source:

http://allafrica.com/stories/201105300009.html

[khushal]

I'm not a big fan of the government either. The problem here is frustration. In between this tug of war, civilians have suffered. This attack happens to be the perfect example. The Afghan government thinks wiping off a village means eradicating the problem, the rag-tag insurgency thinks attacking a hotel will prove a point. It's the civilians that are suffering, Afghan nationals to be precise. The government is corrupt, and only an Afghan spear-headed solution will resolve this problem. The problem is far more deeper than scholarships, it's frustration that encompasses various things. Like I've said before, one of the biggest reasons people often times turn to the Taliban is because of their lack of trust in the current Afghan regime. However, when you attack a hotel; that doesn't make you any different than what the government is doing. Illiteracy at it's best, dare I say.

hence the saying "no justice, no peace" right. All this attack does is tell the afghan nation that there is something wrong in the nation, address it please.