A blast which rocked the Afghan capital yesterday was accidental, NATO said, as Washington’s military chief arrived to explain the sacking of the US commander of foreign forces in the country.
The blast, near the foreign ministry in Kabul’s embassy district, happened when an anti-personnel mine in an Afghan army vehicle accidentally detonated, a spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said.
It was not an attack by Taliban-linked insurgents, Lieutenant-Commander Ian Baxter told reporters of the blast, which happened around 9.55am.
The blast happened after US Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Kabul late on Friday on a mission to reassure Afghan leaders following the sacking of the top commander in Kabul.
Mullen was set to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the presidential office confirmed, after US General Stanley McChrystal was sacked for insubordination.
During his one-day visit, Mullen was also due to meet US and NATO officials, the US embassy said.
Mullen was expected to explain the circumstances leading up to McChrystal’s sacking and reassure Karzai that a change of leadership did not mean a change of tactics.
“My message will be clear. Nothing changes about our strategy. Nothing changes about the mission,” said Mullen at a press conference in Washington before his departure for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
General David Petraeus has been appointed as the new commander.
Speaking at the same press conference on Thursday as Mullen, Gates said there was progress in the Afghan war — the administration’s latest bid to defend the mission as foreign troop casualties hit record highs.
NATO announced the death of another alliance soldier following a Taliban-style bomb attack in southern Afghanistan yesterday.
This month has become the deadliest month of the war since it began in late 2001, with 85 foreign troop deaths, according to an AFP tally based on that kept by icasualties.org.
This year 305 foreign soldiers have been killed — compared with last year’s total of 520 — under McChrystal’s strategy to pour tens of thousands of extra troops into Afghanistan to take the fight to the Taliban.
McChrystal won early praise for a drop in civilian casualties as he attempted to win popular trust, at the same time working hard to bring Karzai on board.
His dismissal after comments he made in a magazine was met with dismay in Kabul, where Afghans and foreign diplomats praised his efforts to change the course of the war.
There are 140,000 troops in Afghanistan, with the number set to peak at 150,000 by August, in the hope of forcing an end to the insurgency with a surge of efforts in the southern province of Kandahar, the Taliban’s heartland.
Obama said in Washington that Petraeus, well regarded for his role in turning around the Iraq war, would be able to hit the ground running due to his work on Afghanistan as head of Central Command, which oversees both war zones.
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