Seven killed as Taliban hit Kabul after Obama's 'end of war'.

Seven killed as Taliban hit Kabul after Obama's 'end of war'.(AA).Taliban bombers attacked a heavily fortified guesthouse used by Westerners in Kabul today, in defiance of a visit by US President Barack Obama's call that war was ending, made during a visit to Afghanistan on the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death. Seven people were killed after attackers dressed in burqas detonated a suicide car bomb and clashed with guards at the "Green Village" complex of guesthouses used by foreign organisations including the European Union, the United Nations and aid groups, officials said. The attackers' ability to penetrate a tightened security cordon in the capital raises fresh concern about the resilience of the insurgency as NATO hands over responsibility for security across the country to Afghan forces and winds down its combat presence in the next two years. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault and said it was a riposte to Obama, just hours after he signed a new partnership pact set to govern Afghan-US relations after 2014.
In an election-year address, Obama presented himself as a commander-in-chief capable of ending two long wars, following the US troop withdrawal from Iraq, and of crushing Al-Qaeda, and tried to conjure up a new dawn for a US public exhausted by conflict and recession. "This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end," Obama said, recalling a decade-long "dark cloud of war" after bin Laden plotted the September 11 attacks in 2001. "Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon," said Obama, seeking a second White House term later this year. Obama flew into Kabul in secret in the dead of night and signed a deal with President Hamid Karzai, cementing 10 years of US aid for Afghanistan after NATO combat troops leave in 2014. "We look forward to a future of peace. We're agreeing to be long-term partners," Obama said at the signing ceremony at Karzai's palace. The US president left after six hours on the ground. About two hours later, the Green Village assault began. Police said suicide attackers wearing burqas struck at 6:15 am (0145 GMT), blowing up a car bomb, then clashing with guards. The interior ministry said seven people were killed, including a student and a guard. Kargar Noorughli, spokesman for the health ministry, said 18 people were wounded and eight admitted to hospital, including one in a critical condition and "several children". The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Taliban said that the Kabul suicide bombing was in reaction to U.S. President Baack Obama’s trip to Afghanistan Obama left Kabul only hours before the attacks after signing a strategic agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. “One of our mujahideen detonated his car in front of a military base. Other mujahideen are inside the base fighting. There are very heavy casualties for the enemy,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters in a phone call. Mujahid also said the attack was in response to Obama’s signing of a strategic pact with President Hamid Karzai’s government.The U.S. embassy, which neighbors the AFP bureau in Kabul, said its embassy was “under lockdown” and warned staff to “take cover, move away from the windows.” “Duck and cover here at the embassy. Not a drill -- avoid the area,” the U.S. embassy said on Twitter. Karzai said the U.S. pact “is not threatening any third country, including the neighboring countries, but we are hoping that this leads to stability, prosperity and development in the region.” “Neither Americans nor the Afghan people asked for this war, yet for a decade we’ve stood together,” Obama said at the signing ceremony. But after a war that has cost the lives of nearly 3,000 U.S. and allied troops, maimed tens of thousands more, saw thousands of Afghans killed and cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Afghanistan’s future is deeply uncertain.Hmmmm......Someone forgot to tell the Taliban the war is over.Read the full story here.