Kabul Attack Ends After 20 Hours: Spokesman

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The 20-hour insurgent assault on the heavily guarded Afghan capital left 27 dead - including police, civilians and attackers - when fighting finally ended on Wednesday morning, officials said.

Eleven Afghan civilians were killed, more than half of them children, said U.S. Marine Corps Gen. John Allen. Five Afghan police officers also died, he said.

A total of 11 insurgents were also killed in the fighting, seven of them as NATO and Afghan forces launched an operation to clear the attackers out of a half-built concrete high-rise near the U.S. Embassy and a NATO compound where they were holed up for the assault.

Four other attackers served as suicide bombers in what was a coordinated attack in several areas of Kabul.

The fighting around the high-rise at the Abdul Haq traffic circle finally ended about 9:30 a.m. after a night of roaring helicopters, gunshots and tracers streaking through the sky.

The Afghan Interior Ministry announced that the final holdouts in the 12-story concrete building had been killed and police officers could be seen clapping their hands in celebration on the roof of the building.

But the coordinated strikes raised fresh doubts about the Afghans' ability to secure their nation as U.S. and other foreign troops begin to withdraw. Afghan forces have nominally been in control of security in the capital since 2008, but still depend heavily on foreign forces to help protect the city and assist when it comes under attack.

And spectacular attacks in the heavily guarded capital have now become more common. This week's strike was the third deadly attack in Kabul since late June.

No NATO or U.S. Embassy employees were hurt in the latest attack, though U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said six or seven rockets had hit inside the embassy compound. Four Afghans were wounded when a rocket-propelled grenade hit one of the embassy buildings, CIA Director David Petraeus told lawmakers in Washington.

Comments

[turnkey44]

11:19 AM on 09/19/2011

This news keeps getting pushed to the back, could it be that entertainment and recreation have more to offer? Or it could be that the profit on these selective wars is coming to an end?

[Fein]

10:38 AM on 09/18/2011

In other words ; MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Now we can withdraw with the honor of knowing that we liberated yet another democracy.

'The winners' write the History so ya'll believe that, right?

[dbrett480]

03:49 PM on 09/17/2011

The Afghanis complain about our "occupation" but as soon as we suggest a timetable for leaving, they say that they are not ready.

[pray4words]

01:40 PM on 09/15/2011

Looking at the apartment or condo in Kabul Afghanistan and thinking how large the windows are and how nice the idea of concrete ...then the vision of dead men being carried out...still wondering why are americans here in Afghanistan. Looks like Afghanistan can take care of itself...

[MaryKToddTaylor]

11:52 AM on 09/15/2011

Can anyone find any details on who owns this Adbul Haq building in the Green Zone? Who is the contractor doing the construction?

[Taos]

11:41 AM on 09/15/2011

Odd, all the fighting seems to be done by coaliation forces. The Afghan army stands around looking/watching dead bodies! Seems like a waste of time, I doubt they're much of a threat. Also, if you saw the Taliban forces, they are wearing rags and don't seem very well armed.

[Hutch]

02:16 AM on 09/15/2011

All else aside, I'm glad to see the media showing that there are a few Afghans willing to fight for themeselves. What is really sickening is the photo of all the media clustered around a dead body taking pics. How many dead bodies do you need to see, especially that close up?

[ekstatik]

02:38 AM on 09/15/2011

They've been fighting for centuries, and they will keep fighting until WE ARE OUT!

[Jesuslandia]

07:22 PM on 09/16/2011

And then they will stop fighting? lololol

[Rapier]

11:21 PM on 09/14/2011

Twenty-hour firefight and just 11 killed. About as believable as all the crashing helicopters. Billions wasted on what should have been a police action and more hatred and more enemies ... not to mention a bankrupt economy. Did we play bin Laden's game?

[joyfulblasphemer]

08:51 PM on 09/14/2011

Imagine that.... a country defending itself against the American INVADERS........ Who woulda thunk????

[Jesuslandia]

07:22 PM on 09/16/2011

You must be a Liberal (or a Muslim).

[joyfulblasphemer]

04:39 PM on 09/17/2011

Damn straight, I'm a Liberal, and therefore I'm smart enough to know that we will fail in Afghanistan just as so many other invaders have done for the last 3,000 years... They didn't get the nick-name ''Empire killers'' for nothing.

[Rubiconski]

06:10 PM on 09/14/2011

6 resistance fighters layed the smack down on US/NATO for 20 HOURS!! GEE.......TOO BAD!!!

Trillion$ down the drain! There is ONLY one solution: get out.

Get out, before you're forced out. And the U.S. will be forced out.

[opsudrania]

05:10 PM on 09/14/2011

These small bands of brute Afghans were trained by USA both at home and in US HQs for fighting against USSR at one point of time. What goes out comes back to us. Now these brute Afs are turned back against their old master trainers using the same skill they were trained to use against USSR. Not forgeting that Pak military and ISI are behind them supplying all the means necessary in warfare. US supplies the weapons to Pak as ally for fighting terror but the same weapon is used by these people in fighting US forces directly or indirectly. Without Pak suport, these Talibani forces will surrender in no time.

Unfortunately US is heavily dependent on Pak, not realising its negative value fully. Only an awareness is shown at times. Pak is a disgruntled fiance of US. Can't hold nor leave without lust.
God bless

[MMRDO]

05:42 PM on 09/14/2011

No, most of those people are dead, the life expectancy in that region is very low. The Paks have been doing a lot of the training. I'd investigate better if I were you.

[ekstatik]

02:41 AM on 09/15/2011

Why are you calling these freedom fighters "brutes"?

[MMRDO]

01:35 PM on 09/18/2011

First off, lets not get confused, that label is purely fictional. They want a theocracy, always have, even when we were backing them.

[weathwoods]

04:47 PM on 09/14/2011

Oh, you mean the US is withdrawing?

[caprawalie]

04:16 PM on 09/14/2011

It is remarkable how a small band of determined and fearless fighters can hold off a whole army supported by the sophisticated weponry and support of NATO....as has occured in Vietnam this is an unwinnable war and history is on the side of the Taliban. US and NATO interference has given them the moral authority as defenders of their country and their particular conservative theocratic philosophy. The alternative is Karzai, a rogue and a hooligan....the loosers are Afghans and particularly their women on whom they will enact all the primitive interpretations of Islam and a life of constrained indignity and hell

[MMRDO]

05:42 PM on 09/14/2011

They held out in cover for 20 hours then were killed, hardly impressive.

[Fein]

10:34 AM on 09/18/2011

Their mission was spectacularly successful,

They illustrated to the world that a tribal group can mount an insurgency against the most powerful military on the planet and it's buddies for 9 years and there's Zip we can do about it.

I'll be the Russians are laughing their butt off.

[Jesuslandia]

07:24 PM on 09/16/2011

Liberal gets tingle up his leg over 7th century Muslim savages. Hardly a shock to me at this point.

[Fein]

10:36 AM on 09/18/2011

Those "7th century Muslim savages" are kicking your butt up and down.

We just want them to stop because it's embarrassing.

[drcaveda]

03:51 PM on 09/14/2011

This is the 2011 Taliban's version, of the Vietnam 1968 VC's Tet offensive. They are also expecting the same US reaction.

[MMRDO]

05:43 PM on 09/14/2011

You mean to break the back of the Taliban like the VC was broken after Tet?

[Fein]

09:55 AM on 09/20/2011

He was probably referring to the NVA's winning the war and their triumphal march into Saigon while the US tried to evacuate it's cronies by helicopter.

And all that after the war mongers falsely claimed they 'broke the back' of the enemy.

[straight skinny]

06:40 PM on 09/14/2011

The only "same result" they will get at the end is the result after TET-Which was Giap retreating and the NVA getting their Butts Kicked!

"This is the 2011 Taliban's version, of the Vietnam 1968 VC's Tet offensive. They are also expecting the same US reaction."

[Fein]

09:56 AM on 09/20/2011

Have you ever heard the expression, 'it doesn't count if you win the battle if you loose the war?'.

[aadamlaw]

02:09 PM on 09/14/2011

In all this, lets not forget one thing. How was Afghanistan before we went in? I do not remember these daily bombings and these daily suicide attacks before 9/11. Was it us? Was it our going in that started all this mess? If the Taliban were not allowing girls to go to school, etc., was that our mission? We went to war with Afghanistan because the Taliban were not handing over Osama bin Ladin to us! That is the bottom line and the reason for the war against Afghanistan. How many have died for this now? And even though Osama does not even exist, how many more need to die? It is easy to demonize everyone we kill, just as "they" demonize us. The bottom line is that we and they are killing people that have nothing to do with the decision not to hand over Osama to us. The rest is just words to demonize each other so we can all (they and us) sleep with a conscience as killings abound.

[jimmygwrites]

02:24 PM on 09/14/2011

The Taliban ran a rather brutal regime, plenty of violence to go around before we set foot in the place. But yeah, time to go, they need to stand on their own two feet so to speak.

[ekstatik]

02:46 AM on 09/15/2011

It'll be a lot easier for them to stand on their own two feet once we stop pummeling them.

[sutt202]

02:38 PM on 09/17/2011

Doesn't anyone even remember why we went to Afghanistan in the first place. They where harboring Osama Bin Laden who had just declared war on the USA by attacking the twin towers, the pentagon etc. The rulers "Taliban" refused to turn over the plotters of 9/11 and celebrated 9/11 as a great victory. They declared war on us.
But we got sidetracked by Bushes phony war in Iraq and lost our direction in Afgan.