12 die in Afghanistan jihadist attack

This time it is us who suffer. The Taliban managed to get an armored bus carrying some soldiers and some contractors. The motive is clear; kill non-Muslims, especially American military until the last one is gone from the land of Muhammad. Then peace will break out and everything will be peachy.

Uh huh.

From The New York Times October 29 by Rod Norland

12 Americans Die as Blast Hits Bus in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — At least 12 Americans were killed when a Taliban suicide car bomber attacked an armored shuttle bus in Kabul on Saturday, military officials said.

The bombing was the single deadliest assault on Americans in the capital since the war began, military officials said, and follows brazen Taliban attacks on the American Embassy andNATO headquarters in the city last month.

A Western defense official said at least four of the dead Americans were G.I.’s and the rest were contract workers; a Canadian soldier and four Afghans were also reported to be killed.

The attack Saturday and the other high-profile assaults are seen as a shift in Taliban strategy as the militants struggle against a surge in American troops that has loosened their grip on the Taliban heartland in the south and compromised their ability to stage more conventional attacks on NATO forces.

American officials see the latest assaults as the Taliban’s attempt to shake confidence in the Afghan government, which has been taking over security from NATO in Kabul and other areas of the country.

NATO has been laboring to highlight advances in Afghanistan as the Obama administration faces mounting budget problems and pressure to keep to a timetable that envisions most forces leaving in 2014. But the attacks underscore the resilience of the Taliban and NATO’s difficulties in keeping militants from attacking even the heavily guarded capital.

Officials initially reported that all of those reported to have died aboard the bus Saturday were soldiers, but NATO later said five were members of the military and eight were contractors. The precise number and nationalities of the dead remained uncertain Saturday night.

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