Yesterday's Attack & Masood Day

When I was writing yesterday’s post I heard what I thought was a small explosion. It turned out to be the attack on the US army Humvee which occurred about 5km away just near what they call the “Green Zone”. When I saw the pictures on CNN later in the day it seemed like another place. But it was only around the corner from the ISAF base we visited a few days before – where our friend the J-dog is working. Strangely I don’t feel in danger. I have taken to wearing the local garb and am sporting a fairly substantial beard so I don’t think of myself as a beacon for attack, not like all the troops (and ops personal) that have to walk around the streets in full combat uniform. Though the size of the bomb detonated yesterday was such that any armour would have been useless. Evidently the top of the Humvee was found 200ms down the street from the charred chasis of the vehicle. Truly horrendous stuff. One of our journalist friends showed us some of the images from the AAP website of the aftermarth. All the troops are in lockdown for the next few days. Although fighting continues unabated in the south. It seems the Taliban and their supporters are not going to stop fighting any time soon. Suicide attack was unknown to Afghanistan until recently – but now it seems an entrenched tactic of so-called asymmetric warfare. But I don’t think the majority of Afghan people support the insurgency. Today in Afghanistan is Masood Day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Shah_Massoud
Ahmed Shah Masood (known as the Lion of Panjshir) was the leader of the Northern Alliance who held out against the Taliban until this day 5 years ago when he was taken out by two Algerians posing as journalists. These men were sent by Osama Bin Laden to assassinate Masood as quid pro quo for Taliban tolerance of Al Qeada (sic) activities in Afghanistan. Masood was also a Mujahadeen – a devout Muslim who gained his name fighting against the Russians, but was also open to rights for women and strongly believed in a peaceful prosperous Afghanistan. His loss is greatly mourned in this country – and should be all around the world – as strong leadership is needed to solve the myriad problems of this country.