KABUL — Bomb strikes killed two NATO soldiers — a Briton and a Norwegian — while a rocket attack at the major international military base in southern Afghanistan wounded eight other international troops, officials said today.
The violence came three days before a London conference on Afghanistan that is expected to focus on a government plan to reintegrate Taliban militants willing to lay down their arms.
The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, said the Taliban could be part of a peace agreement if an influx of 37,000 foreign troops succeeds in bringing stability to the country.
“As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there’s been enough fighting, and that what we need to do all of us is to do the fighting necessary to shape conditions where people can get on with their lives,” he said in an interview published today in the Financial Times. “I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past.”
An Afghan government plan to offer jobs, vocational training and other economic incentives to tens of thousands of Taliban foot soldiers willing to switch sides will be discussed at the Jan. 28 international conference in London.
Officials have said the program would allow individuals to lay down their arms while top Taliban leaders are urged to negotiate peace. The Taliban leadership has rejected this so long as foreign forces remain in Afghanistan.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the international community would likely endorse the plan at the London conference, telling reporters today that it is “right to believe that over the long-term we can split the Taliban.”
The Norwegian soldier died today when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Faryab province in the north, the country’s military said. An explosion Sunday in the southern of Helmand killed a British soldier, according to the British Defense Ministry.
The latest deaths bring the total of NATO forces killed in Afghanistan this month to 37, compared with 23 in January 2009.
Sunday’s rocket hit inside Kandahar Air Field after dark, injuring four Bulgarians and four Romanians, said Flight Lt. Wendy Wheadon, a spokeswoman for the international force.
The attack occurred as Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolai Mladenov visited 270 of his country’s troops who guard the inner zone of the Kandahar airport, the ministry said. Mladenov was about 400 yards from where the rocket hit and was not hurt.
The base was hit by rockets before, though rarely with enough precision to wound people. Wheadon said the last time a rocket struck inside the base was early December when no one was hurt.
Three wounded Bulgarians were transported to Germany for further treatment, while the fourth was released Sunday, according to the country’s Defense Ministry.
In Bucharest, the Defense Ministry confirmed two of its soldiers were hurt in the attack. One left the military hospital today and the other was in stable condition, it said. It was not immediately clear why NATO and Romania had conflicting numbers of wounded troops.
Interior Minister Hanif Atmar, meanwhile, promoted some officers and handed out commendations for Afghan police who fought a team of Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers in an assault on Kabul a week ago Monday.
Atmar urged security forces to stay alert against a resilient enemy.
“If you close your eyes for a second, one suicide attacker can slip past you and kill innocent people,” he said during a ceremony in the capital.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
