The Afghan Defense Ministry went into a near-total lockdown on Tuesday after the discovery of 10 suicide vests, and the arrest of more than a dozen soldiers suspected of plotting to attack the ministry and blow up commuter buses full of government employees, Afghan and Western officials said.
The security breach took place in one of the most fortified parts of Kabul, less than about a kilometer from the presidential palace and the headquarters of the US-led coalition. It raised the prospect that the Taliban, which committed a series of high-profile attacks inside Kabul last year, planned to pick up where it left off as winter snows give way to spring, clearing the high mountain passes and opening the annual fighting season.
Compounding the fears of renewed violence in Kabul was what appeared to be complicity of Afghan soldiers in the plot. Soldiers and police officers have been killing their colleagues among the international military force at an alarming rate in recent months — only hidden bombs have killed more coalition service members this year.
Photo: AFP
The killings have already reached into the heart of the Afghan security establishment — last month, amid riots over US soldiers burning Korans, an Afghan Interior Ministry employee shot dead two US military advisers in a restricted-access area of the ministry. Three other coalition service members were killed on Monday by Afghan security forces in two separate episodes in the country’s south and east.
The attacks by Afghan soldiers and police on coalition forces have called into question a pillar of the US’ exit strategy — the readying of Afghan security forces to fight on their own. Now, in light of the potential plot against the defense ministry, it appears that elements of the security forces may also pose a threat to their own government.
Details of the latest plot, which officials said was uncovered on Monday, remained sketchy, leaving unanswered questions about how the plotters gained access to the grounds of the ministry, which lie behind multiple checkpoints.
The ministry refused to even acknowledge that a breach had occurred — it denied any attempted bombings and said no soldiers had been arrested — but the denials were contradicted by a half-dozen Afghan and Western officials.
While some praised Afghan security forces managing to stop the attack, all spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid contradicting the Afghan government.
One Western official said at least 10 suicide vests were discovered in and around the ministry on Monday afternoon. Most were found in guard sheds around a parking lot, and the belief among Afghan and Western officials is that the plan was to blow up buses carrying ministry employees home, the official said.
An Afghan army officer who handles administrative matters at the ministry gave a similar account.
“You have to be cautious when you come here. It is not safe here,” the officer said.
The plotters “have links inside the ministry. Otherwise, they could not enter such a highly secured place,” he said.
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