HOPES OF ending the war in Afghanistan through a negotiated settlement appeared in tatters yesterday after insurgents assassinated Prof Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former president of Afghanistan appointed by Hamid Karzai to begin peace talks with the Taliban.
At about 6pm local time, a bomb ripped through Prof Rabbani’s house in the heart of Kabul’s diplomatic district, just a stone’s throw from the US embassy which was attacked by militants last week.
Sources close to Prof Rabbani said the former president died in the explosion and Masoom Stanekzai, another key official in charge of Mr Karzai’s reconciliation strategy, was seriously injured.
Such an apparently deliberate attack on a still-embryonic peace process that has created tensions within Afghanistan and between its neighbours is likely to tip the country further into political crisis.
Unconfirmed reports indicated that the two men were meeting a pair of insurgents to discuss peace plans. That raises the possibility that one of the insurgents could have been the bomber.
Mohammad Aslam, a baker whose shop is just down the road from the house, said he thought the blast came from within the house as the sound of the explosion was “extremely weak”.
Prof Rabbani, who was chairman of the High Peace Council set up by Mr Karzai last year to develop a framework for peace, regularly held meetings with insurgents on either side of the Afghan-Pakistani border.
He was a Tajik and former warlord from northern Afghanistan who fought against the Taliban and was a controversial choice.
Although many analysts argued that the Taliban would never take a man with his history seriously, his appointment was also designed to appease northern non-Pashtun Afghans who were deeply suspicious of any peace deals.
Prof Rabbani's death is likely to embolden those opposition figures who are most strongly opposed to peace talks with insurgents. – ( Guardianservice)