KABUL: As only a few days left for Afghanistan to hold its first democratic elections, two major foreign election observer and support missions have pulled staff out of the war-torn country following a Taliban attack on a Kabul hotel.
On Thursday, nine persons including two children and four foreigners were killed in a shooting and subsequent firefight inside the luxurious Serena Hotel in Kabul. The Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack.
“It’s really bad news,” said Jandad Spingar, director at the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, the largest Afghan monitoring group.
“Having international observers in the election is really, really important… (to) give legitimacy to the process.”
Afghanistan’s presidential election is slated to be held on April 5.
Foreign intelligence service behind attack on Kabul hotel: Afghanistan
Meanwhile, in a statement President Hamid Karzai’s office said that its spy agency believes that a foreign intelligence service was behind the attack on a Kabul hotel.
“The attack on the Serena Hotel was a direct attack by an intelligence service outside the country,” the spy agency told Afghanistan’s top security officials.
The agency did not specify which country was purportedly responsible for the assault, but Afghanistan routinely accuses Pakistan of sending militants across the border to wage attacks.
