While the United States and NATO press an offensive in rural southern Afghanistan, the Taliban are continuing dramatic attacks in the capital, Kabul. Earlier today, militants struck a high-rise hotel and guesthouses frequented by foreigners in the city's relatively upscale Shahr-e-Now neighborhood.
One of the attacks hit Safi Landmark Hotel, a prominent glass-and-concrete building near Shahr-e-Now Park. Pajhwok Afghan news reports that another attack hit the Aryana guesthouse; the Wall Street Journal says attackers also infiltrated the Park Residence guesthouse.
Pajhwok also has photos from the scene. The blast in the Aryana, which was leased by the Indian embassy, killed at least five Indian citizens and wounded eight others. The New York Times says the attacks claimed the lives of 18 people in all.
Attacks targeting foreigners are not new: A 2008 attack on the Serena Hotel, a high-end destination that is a favorite for diplomats, international news crews and visiting politicians, caused a major stir in Kabul. But militants began targeting foreigners in the capital as long ago as 2004, when a suicide attacker armed with a string of grenades hit Chicken Street, a street lined with shops and carpet stores that is a traditional destination for souvenir-hunting foreigners.
But the attacks also seem to be deliberately targeting Indian interests in Afghanistan. While India is not a member of the U.S./NATO-led coalition, the attacks in Kabul's city center come as India and Pakistan begin the first official talks since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, blamed on Pakistan-based extremists.
Update 1: Danger Room pal Robert Young Pelton, currently in Kabul with a new project, notes that these attacks were a depressingly regular feature of life in the capital, well before the Marjah offensive. The December bomb attack against the Heetal Plaza Hotel, for instance, was also directed at the business interests of Jalaluddin Rabbani, son of former president and Jamiat-e Islami leader Burhanuddin Rabbani.
Update 2: The New York Times has an excellent gallery of the chaotic scene in Shahr-e-Now.
[PHOTO: Pajhwok Afghan News]
