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| Last Updated: Dec 14, 2011 - 11:39:16 AM |
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Key Afghan peacemaker Rabbani killed in Kabul bombing
20 Sep 20, 2011 - 8:05:38 AM
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Kabul-Former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was appointed last year to head a commission trying to broker a peace deal with the Taliban, was killed inside his Kabul home Tuesday afternoon in a suicide bombing, Afghan officials said.
The assassination of the influential political leader is a blow to the Afghan government's embattled effort to bring insurgents into the political fold. The United States and other Western leaders have backed the so-far fruitless effort, seeing it as the best opportunity to bring the war to an end after a decade of fighting.
Rabbani, who served as president from 1992 to 1996, fled Kabul when the Taliban seized control of the country. He was one of the key leaders of the Northern Alliance, a coalition of warlords and political factions that fought against the Taliban during the nation’s fierce civil war. He was about 80.
A senior security official, an official within the High Peace Council and a person close to Rabbani confirmed that he was killed in the explosion. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were trying to learn more details. Rabbani's house is near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
The attack comes as Karzai and the U.S.-led military coalition in Kabul are struggling to argue that Afghanistan is ready to start assuming greater responsibility for security as NATO troops start pulling out.
Karzai is in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly meetings.
Source: The Washington Post
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