AFGHANISTAN’S GOVERNMENT suspects a suicide bombing that killed seven Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel was a revenge attack organised by followers of a powerful insurgent leader once backed by the agency to fight the Soviets.
Led by Jalaluddin Haqqani, one of the guerrilla leaders backed by the CIA to fight the Russian army in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the group has emerged in recent years as one of the deadliest foes for US troops.
It is understood the bomber, wearing explosives on his body, was brought inside the CIA base by operatives who saw him as a potential new informant and who may have lowered their guard.
Confirmation that the bombing was the work of the Haqqani network could put fresh strains on relations between the US and Pakistan, which has rebuffed calls from Washington to deny safe havens to the network.
The CIA agents killed at the base are believed to have been running intelligence operations to support US attempts to bring greater military pressure on Mr Haqqani.
US officials say his network has links to al-Qaeda, the Islamist terror network, and works closely with other Taliban groups in Afghanistan.
Zamari Bashari, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s interior ministry, said the government had not yet determined who was responsible for the attack at the CIA base in Khost province on Wednesday, but suspicion centred on Mr Haqqani.
“We suspect that Haqqani carried out this attack,” Mr Bashari said. “He is involved in most of the attacks and violence in Khost.”
The Haqqani network is suspected of carrying out a string of suicide bombings and other attacks on US forces in the eastern province, which borders Pakistan.
Mr Haqqani, believed to be in his 60s or older, has handed much of the day-to-day running of his organisation to his son Sirajuddin but remains its overall head.
Containing the group represents one of the priorities for US commanders overseeing the deployment of an additional 30,000 US troops ordered to Afghanistan by US president Barack Obama in December.
The US has urged Pakistan to broaden an offensive it launched against Pakistani Taliban militants in mid-October to include safe havens used by the Haqqani network in North Waziristan, which is across the border from Khost.
Pakistan’s security services, which have long-standing links with Mr Haqqani and other Afghan militants, have rebuffed the request, arguing they lack the capacity to drive his followers from the rugged border area.
Some analysts suspect the military is reluctant to take on militants who pose little direct threat to Pakistan and may one day serve as a useful ally for gaining influence in Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials played down the likelihood that the Haqqani network was behind the attack. “People are in danger of jumping to conclusions quickly,” said one security official.
George Little, a CIA spokesman, said: “There’s still a lot to be learned about what happened. The key lesson is that counterterrorism work is dangerous.”
The Washington Post reported that the base was used as part of the CIA’s covert programme of drone strikes against militants such as the Haqqani network and suspected al-Qaeda commanders operating in Pakistan.
Additional reporting by Fazel Reshad in Kabul. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)