Foiled plot shows Al Qaeda hand

Police and international peacekeepers are on high alert on the streets of Kabul, just days after a foiled suicide bombing attack near the palace of President Hamid Karzai.

The capture of two men, an Afghan national and an unnamed foreigner who had packed the doors of his Toyota Corolla with 660 pounds of explosives, has been hailed as a success story of cooperation and intelligence-sharing between Afghan and international security forces. But there are indications that this assassination attempt may not be the last.

Kabul police officials say they have received reports from Afghan intelligence sources that there may be as many as 25 armed Al Qaeda members in Kabul, ready to strike Afghan ministers, foreign diplomats, US representatives, or foreign aid workers.

Afghan intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh says the accused bomber has admitted to being assigned by Al Qaeda to assassinate Mr. Karzai, and if that effort failed, to target foreigners in the city.

"He says he wanted to go to heaven by killing himself and also killing infidels and supporters of infidels in Afghanistan," Mr. Saleh told The Associated Press in Kabul.

In addition, Afghan police officials say that Afghan intelligence agents have traced a Pakistani national, Khoshal Khan, to the city of Kabul. According to these reports, Mr. Khan is carrying explosives similar to those discovered in the foiled bombing attack on Monday.

"We are following Khoshal, but we don't have his photo, we only know his name," says Haji Amanullah, deputy chief of police in the Interior Ministry in Kabul. "We have deployed intelligence officials on all the major incoming and outgoing routes to Kabul city. It's a big challenge."

For the top leaders of Afghan's transitional government, it's a sign of violent political times, as Afghanistan enters its eighth month of government after the destruction of the Taliban regime. Two top Afghan cabinet ministers have already been assassinated in the past six months, including Vice President Haji Abdul Qadir last month in his hometown of Jalalabad.He was gunned down by two unknown assailants who have yet to be captured.The increasing danger has led Karzai to take the controversial step last week of replacing his platoon of Afghan guards with American Special Forces at the presidential palace.

In a recent interview with Kabul Weekly, a local newspaper, Karzai explained that replacing Afghans with American soldiers should not be interpreted as distrust of the Afghans or a sign of growing American control of the Afghan government. American forces and international peacekeepers offered US guards last month, after Mr. Qadir's death, Karzai said, and his government accepted the offer, "because these forces are better trained and have better technology."

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