KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN—A suicide car bomber who blew himself up next to a small bazaar near Kandahar city committed “a sheer act of murder” in killing six nearby children, said the commander of Task Force Kandahar on Monday.
The blast went off at about 9 a.m. local time near a market area in Dand district to the west of Kandahar city. A second improvised explosive device was detonated as Afghan National Police and fire crews showed up to help.
“We arrived on the scene shortly after that and did what we could to assist. The facts of the matter are there was no obvious target against Afghan officials or ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) or anybody else,” said Canadian Brig.-Gen. Jon Vance.
“This was a sheer act of murder of kids in a family area across from a mosque so a pretty sick thing to do as you can imagine.”
As additional U.S. forces have poured into southern Taliban strongholds in Kandahar and Helmand provinces, insurgents have mounted a counter-campaign of bombings and assassinations aimed at those affiliated with the Afghan government.
Initial reports suggested a government official was targeted but Vance doesn’t believe that’s the case. He said the district governor showed up to help after the initial blast but it doesn’t appear he was scheduled to be there.
“I’ve got to tell you this is disturbing, in that the target was children. And you know one would have a very difficult time finding any redeeming qualities in this insurgency,” Vance said.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again they’re not offering anything but fear and intimidation to the local population. I think the fact that they’re targeting children violates even their own half-cocked code of conduct that they put out.
“I detect in this insurgency a sick aspect that is certainly terrorizing the population.”
The latest string of attacks comes as U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, released his guidance for the conduct of counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan.
Petraeus urges forces to “learn and adapt” and to build relationships with the Afghan people.
But he also offers some stern guidelines for dealing with the Taliban.
“Pursue the enemy relentlessly. Together with our Afghan partners, get your teeth into the insurgents and don’t let go. When the extremists fight, make them pay. Seek out and eliminate those who threaten the population. Don’t let them intimidate the innocent,” writes Petraeus.
“Hunt the enemy aggressively, but use only the firepower needed to win a fight. We can’t win without fighting, but also cannot kill or capture our way to victory.”
Vance said it is not unusual for a new commander to add his own personal stamp to a mission.
“Gen. Petraeus’s fingerprints are definitely on this but it certainly follows the principles and fundamentals of counterinsurgency doctrine and all that he asks us to do as a mission Canadians do all the time,” Vance said.
“I’m very comfortable with the guidance. It is critical in military operations that even something that is common sense gets codified by a commander and gets put in writing that this is what I want. So there is no ambiguity — commanders don’t like ambiguity.”
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