Afghan interior, intelligence chiefs resign over peace conference attack

Afghan interior, intel chiefs resign over attack

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan president’s office says Hamid Karzai has accepted the resignations of his interior minister and intelligence chief over a militant attack on last week’s national peace conference.

A statement Sunday said the explanation given by Interior Minister Hanif Atmar and National Directorate of Security chief Amrullah Saleh for Wednesday’s attack in Kabul was “not satisfactory.”

At least two Taliban militants fired rockets at the conference where delegates discussed how to resolve Afghanistan’s nearly 9-year war. None of the 1,500 delegates were hurt. The militants were killed after a gunbattle with Afghan security forces.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — President Hamid Karzai ordered a review Sunday of all cases of Taliban suspects being held in Afghan jails and said those being detained on doubtful evidence must be released.

The step was Karzai’s first official response to a national conference last week on ways to end his country’s nearly 9-year-old insurgency. The resolution from that meeting included recommendations to move toward negotiations with militant factions.

The conference, called a “jirga” in the local language, also recommended that Taliban prisoners being held in Afghan custody and by the U.S. military should be released if they were being held on “inaccurate statements or unsubstantiated allegations.”

Hundreds of Taliban and other militant suspects are being held in Afghan jails across the country. Hundreds more, including al-Qaida operatives, are being held in U.S. military jails in Afghanistan and Cuba.

Karzai’s office said in a statement he had ordered the creation of a delegation of officials from the Supreme Court, a government-backed reconciliation commission, Justice Ministry and other judicial officers to “identify those prisoners who are in jails without enough evidence and release them.”

Last week’s meeting — made up of some 1,500 tribal, religious, provincial and other leaders — said insurgent prisoners should be released as a goodwill gesture that would precede peace talks with the Taliban. But it also stressed that insurgents who want to take part in the peace process must cut their ties with foreign terrorist groups such as al-Qaida.

Washington supports Karzai’s plans to offer incentives for rank-and-file militants to lay down arms but remains skeptical about Kabul seeking negotiations with insurgent leaders — although such a strategy could be key to the eventual withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country.

U.S. officials contend the Taliban leadership — which is demanding the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan — feels it has little reason to negotiate because it believes it is winning the war. NATO forces are preparing a major operation in the Taliban heartland of southern Kandahar province which the Obama administration hopes can help turn the war around.

On Sunday, a suicide attacker rammed into a NATO convoy on the outskirts of the eastern city of Jalalabad, Afghan officials said. The assailant hit the convoy with an explosives-laden motorbike, wounding 13 people — 12 civilians and one police officer, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

NATO spokesman Sgt. Kevin Bell said the blast ripped into a mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle, or MRAP, but no one inside was seriously injured. One service member was treated for minor shrapnel wounds, he said.

Photos from the scene show the vehicle on fire, flames lapping around the blackened door and front wheel well.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The assailant was a man from Jalalabad who attacked the convoy in a Toyota Corolla, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said.

Meanwhile, NATO reported that its forces had killed a Taliban commander and several other insurgents in the western province of Farah.

The international alliance launched airstrikes Saturday in Gulistan district after observing “armed individuals moving through a known insurgent safe haven,” a statement said. A ground search team later approached the strike area and shot and killed several heavily armed insurgents, it said.

NATO identified the insurgent commander as Mullah Akhtar and said he had close ties with Taliban and al-Qaida senior leaders. It said he was responsible for arranging training for foreign fighters from Iran and helped resolve disputes between militant networks.

Last week, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said there was “clear evidence” that some Taliban fighters have trained in Iran — although U.S. officials have previously said not in great numbers.

Also Sunday, a roadside bomb attack hit a police truck on a main road in Kandahar province’s Panjwai district, killing one police officer and two civilians in a nearby vehicle, said Shah Baran Noorzai, the district government chief.

The Interior Ministry gave a different toll, saying one police officer and one civilian were killed.

Panjwai lies on the edge of Kandahar city. NATO has widely publicized the coming offensive there as a combination of military strikes and government-boosting programs it hopes will win over the population.

The Taliban, meanwhile, have launched a series of high-profile attacks as part of their own summer offensive against the Afghan government and international forces. The area in and around Kandahar city has become particularly violent in recent months, with regular bomb attacks and assassinations of people seen as allied with the government.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack, which came a day after a bomb exploded outside the provincial governor’s office in Kandahar city. That bomb killed one police officer and wounded at least 14 civilians.

In neighboring Uruzgan province, police said they killed more than 20 insurgents in two operations in the past 36 hours. In one of those operations, in Charchino district, 14 militants were killed including an area commander, said Gen. Juma Gul Himmat, the provincial police chief.

As with many reports of violence in far-flung areas of Afghanistan, it was not possible to confirm the casualty toll independently.

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Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez and Matthew Pennington in Kabul and Mirwais Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.