Taliban attack on the U.S. embassy and the headquarters of NATO in Kabul

September 13, 2011

On Tuesday, a coordinated multi-pronged attack with rockets, riflesand suicide bombers in Kabul  struck the U.S. Embassy, ​​the headquarters of NATO, near theairport and government buildings Afghan Taliban in a bold action that left at least 9 dead.

This operation, conducted two days of the tenth anniversary of the attack on the twin towers and a month of the tenth anniversary of the U.S. invasion ofAfghanistan, shows the climate of violence and instabilitywhich is still submerged in the region.

Two months ago Afghan forces took control of security  in Kabul and other regions of the country as part of a transition plan before the final withdrawal of U.S. troops.

The U.S. embassy and NATO mission in Afghanistanconfirmed that there were no casualties among its staff.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, meanwhile, condemned the “strong” and said the coordinated attacks that “will not achieve their goal of thwarting the process of transferring security responsibilities to the police and the Afghan armed forces.”

“On the contrary, (the attack) rather strengthen our resolve to take responsibility for the affairs of thecountry,” he said in a statement.

The secretary general of NATO said that the enemies ofAfghanistan trying to sabotage the country’s transition.

As reported by the police in Kabul attack began when a group of armed men took a clean sweep in the squarebuilding Abdul Hak, three blocks from the U.S. embassy.It was when they started pulling shots and rocketsexplode.

Police closed to traffic around the perimeter of the square Abdul Hak and Afghan security forces firing from time to time at the building where the attackers were positioned.

Violence increased in recent months in the oncerelatively calm Kabul.