Taliban claim Afghanistan suicide attack, citing 'revenge' for Quran burnings

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An Afghan suicide bomber detonated his car outside the NATO base and airport in the eastern Afghanistan city of Jalalabad today. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was revenge against the US soldiers who burned Qurans last week. 

His attack caps a deadly week in Afghanistan that has prompted NATO and others to recall hundreds of advisers from Afghan ministries who have been preparing the Afghan government and security forces to take on more responsibility as the drawdown of international forces begins, the Associated Press reports. Reuters cites a US Embassy warning of a "heightened" threat to US citizens in Afghanistan.

In today’s attack, the assailant drove his car into the gates of the airport, triggering a blast and killing nine Afghans.

US President Obama apologized for the Quran burnings, which took place at Bagram air base, north of Kabul, and which the US has said were inadvertent. His Afghan counterpart, President Hamid Karzai, called for the punishment of the soldiers who burned the holy books, but also urged Afghans to refrain from violence – a request that has not been heeded.

The Quran burnings spurred several days of deadly protests in Kabul and elsewhere in the country that killed dozens, including four international troops at the hands of Afghan counterparts, according to the AP. Two of them were US military advisers who were shot and killed at the Interior Ministry.

Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador to Afghanistan, said yesterday that the violence does not change American plans in the country and will not accelerate the US troops withdrawal process, Reuters reports. The US is currently scheduled to leave by the end of 2014.

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