Afghan Attacks Had Political Rather Than Military Targets

The militants who waged weekend attacks on the Afghan capital, Kabul, and three other cities wielded small arms and rocket-propelled grenades to fire what may have been primarily political ammunition.

The assault, which U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said yesterday was organized by the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, kept Afghan security forces at bay for more than 17 hours and required NATO helicopters to end the standoff. Afghan President Hamid Karzai called it an “intelligence failure for us and especially NATO.”