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President Hamid Karzai vowed on Monday to do everything he can to prevent terrorist attacks and protect foreigners in Afghanistan, after a suicide attack killed four German peacekeepers and an Afghan civilian.
Karzai said the perpetrator of Saturday's attack in the capital was likely not Afghan.
"The problem is mostly foreign in our case," Karzai told a press conference, regarding a recent wave of attacks countrywide. "And I tell you with a guarantee, that the person who did a suicide attack the day before yesterday, you'll find out was not from Afghanistan."
Karzai did not speculate where the slain bomber was from, but authorities have long accused countries and groups in the region of meddling in Afghan affairs.
The former Taliban regime, ousted in a U.S.-led war, was heavily supported by Pakistan, and Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin Laden was widely thought to have had the ear of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Suspicion for the attack has fallen on bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network, as well as remnants of the Taliban and fighters loyal to renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The three groups have apparently joined forces against Karzai's government.
Karzai said his government did not fear a return of the hardline Talibae movement that once ruled the country, though he conceded that sporadic attacks by its fighters and their sympathizers could continue.
"I'm not worried about the resurgence of the Taliban," Karzai said. "The Taliban movement as a movement is finished. It is gone."
The suicide bombing was the first attack of its kind against the 5,000-strong international peacekeeping force known as ISAF, now commanded jointly by Germany and the Netherlands. Twenty-nine German soldiers and up to 10 Afghan bystanders were also wounded in the assault - carried out by a man driving a car filled with explosives.
Karzai said he and top government officials held a meeting Sunday with the acting commander of the peacekeeping force as well as with U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to discuss how to prevent future attacks.
"We'll take every measure we can ... to ensure the protection of foreigners who have come here to help us and ensure attacks like this can be prevented in the future," Karzai said.
Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali, speaking alongside Karzai, said anti-government guerrillas, active in the south and east of the country, were using Pakistani territory to launch hit-and-run attacks.
"I hope that Pakistani security forces ... will intensify their activities to go after these terrorist centers including their training areas, staging areas and also areas where some of their leaders are residing," Jalali said.
(China Daily June 10, 2003)
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