Afghanistan: Reconstruction work without Security

To UU Peace Makers advocating Military withdrawal couple with Civilian Reconstruction. You first, I say. If UUs and others want the Military out, then everyone should come out. Not to know Military withdrawal means total withdrawal is foolish. Note the Afghan security guys slugged it out for five hours. Via RealClearWorld.

Taliban suicide attackers stormed a four-story house used by an American aid organization in north Afghanistan on Friday, killing four people before dying in a fierce, five-hour gun battle with Afghan security forces.

The pre-dawn attack appeared part of a militant campaign against international development organizations at a time when the U.S. and its allies are trying to accelerate civilian aid efforts to turn back the Taliban.

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Attacks on U.S. contractors, construction companies and aid organizations have been rising just as the United States pushes faster development of one of the world's poorest countries — a priority in its strategy to counter the insurgency. Many of the recent attacks have occurred in Kandahar province in the south where Afghan and NATO forces are ramping up security to wrest control of the area from insurgents and criminals.

In April in Kandahar, a suicide bombing on a fortified guesthouse shared by Western contracting companies killed four Afghans and injured several Americans; a gunman killed an 18-year-old woman working for DAI as she left her job; and the vice mayor of the city was shot and killed as he prayed at a mosque.

Also in April, five Afghan workers for the U.N. Office of Project Services were taken hostage in Baghlan province, west of Kabul, but were later freed unharmed.

Earlier this week, the Afghan driver of a U.N. vehicle was shot and killed in midday traffic in central Kabul, and militants rocketed a base for South Korean construction workers in Parwan province, north of the capital, but caused no casualties