Bombing at Defense Minister's Caravan Kills Five, But Government is Resolute

Nearly seven months after assassins posing as reporters killed Northern Alliance commander Ahmed Shah Masood, a big explosion cut short Afghan Interim Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim's trip to Jalalabad. A bomb exploded just 30 meters from a car carrying Fahim, a former Northern Alliance general, at 12:30 pm, as his caravan passed streets lined with onlookers. Hundreds of schoolchildren sprinkled the passing convoy with leaves and flowers. I was in the second car, impressed by what seemed a genuine outpouring of emotion and listening as a famous Persian song by Iranian pop singer Laila Forouhar seemed to welcome us to the city. Suddenly a deafening bang brought the caravan to a halt. Thick black smoke, dust and debris went up. Reflexively, we all jumped out of our cars.

I didn't know if this was a bomb or a rocket attack or even a landmine. People were screaming and there was general mayhem. Some of the people from my car suggested agitatedly that we slide under the car, others thought we should leave the area. Suddenly, Fahim's car, which was right in front of ours started a screeching u-turn. This was our cue and in a matter of seconds we were all back on our seats. In no time, the driver made a u-turn and we were following Fahim's car very closely. The speedometer read 160 km. Our new destination was a palace belonging to exiled former king Mohammed Zahir Shah, which now serves as governor's office and guesthouse. Fahim had planned to stay overnight, but he left Jalalabad four hours later at 4:30 pm.

There is lingering confusion over who planted the bomb, which had been hidden in a vegetable cart along Fahim's street route. If whoever set it wanted to kill Fahim, the bombing failed; the defense minister was uninjured. If the bombers wanted to cause general carnage, they got their wish. The explosion killed five civilians and injured 80 others. Later that day, Jalalabad strongman General Hazrat Ali told EurasiaNet: "It seems the assassins were sitting at a spot far from their intended target and exploded the bomb with remote control." As a result, Ali said, "they couldn't focus with precision on the minister's car."

The defense minister quickly appealed for calm, perhaps trying to discourage reprisals or bad press. Before going aboard his plane, he told reporters: " The explosion doesn't mean Afghanistan is not a safe place. This is an isolated act." General Ali, an ethnic Pashai who enjoys support from Kabul and Washington, concurred with Fahim, a Tajik. "This was so embarrassing for us," he said, looking shaken. "I'm sure Fahim felt so bad about us. I left the security matters to a subordinate and that was my mistake." Ali promised every injured individual who has been hospitalized would receive a sum of $5000 in compensation from General Fahim.

But even if this attack is unrelated to other violence or resentment in Afghanistan, it had echoes around the country. On April 3, the government rounded up hundreds in what it said was a raid to stop a coup from overthrowing the interim government. [For more information, see related interview]. On April 7, Western press reports said two rockets landed near the base of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul. April 7 also marked the first day of a government campaign to eradicate the poppy fields in the provinces of Helmand, Badakhshan and Nanghehar. During our flight by helicopter, I saw vast swaths of poppy fields with their beautiful crimson flowers stretching for miles on end.

This suggests that warlords in the provinces are acting more independently of the Kabul interim government than Ali's posture might suggest. According to a source at the Ministry of Defense, warlords and governors are asking for lots of money to enforce the prohibition, "about the same amount they are making from taxes on the fields right now." Between ethnic rivals, Muslim extremists and extortionists, any one of several camps might have sought to undermine Fahim's mission.

Sabotage also seems to have occurred in a nonviolent form. It was known that Fahim had intended to ask for support in Jalalabad in forming a national army. He had one more trip on his schedule, to Kunduz. The night before, an unknown group had distributed a "night letter" around the city. Written in Pashto, the language dominant in Afghanistan's south and among the deposed Taliban militia, the two-page declaration called on Jalalabad citizens "to wage Jihad against Americans, the British and the Russians." A similar night letter has been distributed in Khost, last week, this one threatening to kill and kidnap the foreigners. Mohammad Hekmatyar, Fahim's chief of staff (who is no relation of notorious warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar) sees a coordinated campaign designed to upset the Loya Jirga, a grand council set for June that aims to establish the country's government structure and constitutional principles. "There are some hidden hands at work here," said Hekmatyar. "All this is to take the sheen out of the Loya Jirga."