Daily brief: suicide car bomb kills at least 16 in Afghan capital

Event notice: Today at 12:15 p.m.: “Covering Afghanistan: What the War Really Looks Like 8 Years After 9/11,” in Washington, DC, with Steve Coll, Peter Bergen, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Karen DeYoung, and Susan Glasser. The event is at capacity but will be webcast live here.

Let me count the ways

Yesterday, the White House released its much-anticipated list of about 50 metrics with which to measure progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan to closed meetings in Congress (Foreign Policy). The document, while vague at times, highlights the importance of counterinsurgency in Pakistan and improving Afghan security forces and paves the way for the Obama administration to argue that U.S. involvement in the region will not be open-ended and open-pocketed (New York Times, AP, Reuters, McClatchy DC).

President Barack Obama also said yesterday that there is “no immediate decision pending” about whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, a question that has become a hot button issue in the United States (Bloomberg). “My determination is to get this right,” Obama told reporters, saying that he would base his decision on top NATO commander in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s military assessment and reports on civilian, diplomatic, and development issues (Wall Street Journal).

Downright violence and the storm of fortunes

A day after U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry spent the afternoon walking around the streets of Kabul without any visible body armor and talking to local leaders and their children, a massive suicide car bomb tore through a NATO convoy just one mile outside the gates of the U.S. embassy (AP and AFP). The attack, which killed at least sixteen including ten civilians, was claimed by the Taliban and is the fourth blast in and around Kabul since the country’s August 20 presidential election (Al Jazeera, Los Angeles Times, and BBC).

And a Taliban leader supposedly in custody in Iran has called for militants to unleash a campaign of kidnapping civilians working in Afghanistan, writing that is it now time to “accept the principle approved and implemented by the enemy — the abduction of civilians who have nothing to do with the battle” (Telegraph).

Patience is a virtue

At long last, 100 percent of the votes from Afghanistan’s August 20 presidential election have been tallied, and incumbent President Hamid Karzai has won 54.6 percent of what is widely considered a heavily flawed race that could be annulled by mounting allegations of fraud (AP and Washington Post). Some Western officials say that if all the suspect ballots in the election are thrown out by the U.N.-backed body investigating the claims of fraud, Karzai could be forced into a runoff against his main competition, Abdullah Abdullah, who won 27.8 percent of the votes cast (New York Times and Pajhwok). Turnout in the election was 38.7 percent of the some 15 million registered voters, far below the 2004 presidential election’s 70 percent turnout (BBC).

Declan Walsh reports that Afghan election officials have begun preparations for a second round of voting in five weeks in case enough ballots are tossed to sink Karzai’s vote total to less than 50 percent, a scenario that looks “increasingly likely” as 10 percent of the ballots cast are under question (Guardian). Karzai has repeatedly defended the election’s validity, most recently telling reporters in Kabul that he “believe[s] firmly, firmly in the integrity of the election” (Reuters).

Abdullah, who still has the ink stain on his finger to show he voted in last month’s election, has been keeping busy while waiting for the final results, spending much of his time trying to focus people on the alleged fraud and criticizing his opponent’s record (Los Angeles Times). But Abdullah’s team has reportedly begun to reach out to Karzai’s campaign about potentially entering into some kind of power-sharing agreement, and Karzai’s camp is purportedly sending out feelers to representatives from other candidates as Afghan politicians prepare for leading roles in the next government (Wall Street Journal).

Bad week for militants

One of Pakistan’s top ten most wanted al Qaeda leaders was killed ten days ago by a U.S. drone strike in the ungoverned tribal region of North Waziristan, according to Pakistani intelligence officials (New York Times and Geo TV). Ilyas Kashmiri was described by a U.S. counterterrorism official as al Qaeda’s chief of paramilitary operations in Pakistan (AP). The U.S. has launched over 70 drone strikes in Pakistan since the beginning of 2008.

Nazimuddin Zalalov alias Yahyo, a reported leader of the Islamic Jihad of Uzbekistan and a lieutenant of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, was also apparently killed in another drone strike on September 14, though reliable identification of bodies can be difficult (Dawn and AP). And Pakistani security forces say that ten militants were killed in a gunfight in the Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan, including a local Taliban commander named Amjad Ali, and some analysts see reasons for optimism in Pakistan (AFP and Foreign Policy).

In Indonesia, a top extremist leader at times linked with al Qaeda was killed by Indonesian commandos after a nine-hour siege early this morning (AFP). Noordin Mohammed Top, a Malaysian-born extremist who was southeast Asia’s most wanted man, has been implicated in every major terrorist attack in Indonesia since 2003 (AP and New York Times).

The beat goes on

As the Obama administration makes Afghanistan and Pakistan the focal point of its foreign policy, news organizations have accordingly stepped up their coverage in this dangerous theater (American Journalism Review). Be sure to tune in for “Covering Afghanistan” today at 12:15 p.m. to hear from journalists recently back from the region (AfPak Channel).

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