Foiled plot shows Al Qaeda hand

Such caution may be prudent in a country where competing tribal, religious, and personal rivalries still dominate the political scene. Some diplomats say that one more major assassination – particularly of Hamid Karzai – could tip the nation back to the brink of civil war. And instability may be precisely the goal of Afghanistan's enemies, whether they are members of Al Qaeda or rogue agents of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency, which once supported the Taliban.

"As you know, the bomber was discovered to be a Pakistani national, and we have had a long enmity with Pakistan," says Mr. Amanullah, the deputy police chief. "Either the US Embassy was the target or maybe Karzai himself. And on every corner, there are US nationals and aid workers walking. So whatever happened, it would have been a sign of weak security in the city, and they want that."

The arrest of the suicide bomber, whose name has not been released, resulted from a tip from intelligence sources working with the International Security and Assistance Force, a peacekeeping force that has prime responsibility for maintaining security in Kabul.

"It is a good example of coordination between the Afghan transitional authority and ISAF," says Major Murat Pekgulec, a Turkish Army officer and spokesman for the ISAF in Kabul. "ISAF provided the intelligence about the suspected bomber, and the car was captured by Afghan police."

But the suicide bomb attempt also served as a warning sign, Major Pekgulec says, and ISAF has added new patrols in the city of Kabul itself and created additional checkpoints along all six major roads leading into Kabul. ISAF has also trained some 60 Afghan soldiers to be bodyguards for top Afghan officials.

Before, Afghan officials relied on poorly trained bodyguards who were personally loyal to them, says Suha Bacanakgil, another ISAF spokesman. As a result, whenever there was a change in cabinet positions, many top officials went unprotected for several days, because the government had yet to provide them with bodyguards.

"In the assassination of Haji Qadir, that was his first day in office as vice president, and there was no system of bodyguards to protect him," says Mr. Bacanakgil. "It was easy for terrorists to know that he would be unprotected. He had exactly nobody to protect him."

But putting armed men around a leader is one thing. Finding and stopping a suicide bomber is something else.

In the case of the Monday bomber, there are signs that terrorists in Pakistan may be behind the attack. Afghan police say the car had been prepared in the Pakistani town of Wana, in the border tribal area of Waziristan. Wana is a known stronghold of Al Qaeda support, where a joint US-Pakistani raid on an Al Qaeda compound in late June led to the deaths of 10 Pakistani soldiers.

The car was equipped with two remote-control devices for detonating the bombs at a distance, along with secondary detonation switches fixed inside the car. It was also packed with nearly a half ton of C-4 explosives, liquid explosives, and shrapnel. Saleh said: "They put a lot of thought into it."

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