Twenty five people are dead and a thirty seven more are wounded after a methodic assault on an Afghan governor’s compound. Parwan governor Abdul Basir Salangi was the target of the assault, and while the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, rumors are circulating that some of the motivation had to do with a personal dispute with one of the gunmen.
Parwan is a roughly one hour drive from Kabul and is home to Bagram Air Base. A historically peaceful province, the recent deterioration of the security situation parallels much of the rapidly failing Afghan war effort. Despite being so close to American strongholds, Bagram Air Base and Kabul, Parwan province remains incredibly vulnerable to attacks by the Taliban and other insurgents.
Five of the attackers were suicide bombers while the sixth attacker was the possibly bitter gunman. Claims by the United States that the Afghan government is ready to head its own security operations are being questioned with each and every high profile attack. Whether it was the embarrassing response by the Afghans to the attack on the Intercontinental Hotel or the watchful eye that NATO gunships provided over the attack on Salangi’s compound, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Afghan government will be unable to deal with any insurgency whatsoever. That being said, the Obama “withdrawal” will be more of a trickle than anything else.