Dick Cheney Assassination Attempt: Taliban Attacks in Afghanistan

American Vice president Dick Cheney was the target of an assassination attempt by the Taliban in Afghanistan.  A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan Tuesday during a visit by the Vice President.  The bombing killed at least 14 people and wounding a dozen more. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said Cheney was the target. Cheney was unhurt, and later met with President Karzai in Kabul.

Dick Cheney Assassination Attempt: Taliban Attacks in Afghanistan

The developing story means that casualty reports are conflicting.  The Associated Press reported 14 people were killed, and another 27 injured according to NATO.  The explosion comes a day after Britain said it would send an extra 1,400 troops to Afghanistan to combat resurgent Taliban forces.

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A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said Cheney was the target of the attack.  "We knew that Dick Cheney would be staying inside the base," Ahmadi told AP telephone from an undisclosed location. "The attacker was trying to reach Cheney."

The Associated Press gives this timeline of the assignation attempt: About two hours after the blast, Cheney left on a military flight for Kabul to meet with President Hamid Karzai and other officials, then left Afghanistan. The vice president had spent the night at the sprawling Bagram Air Base, ate breakfast with the troops, and met with Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, the commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

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He was preparing to leave for a meeting with Karzai when the suicide bomber struck about 10 a.m., sending up a plume of smoke visible by reporters accompanying him. U.S. military officials declared a "red alert" at the base, the wire service reports.

"I heard a loud boom," Cheney told reporters. "The Secret Service came in and told me there had been an attack on the main gate."

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News 24 reports that Cheney's visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan were unannounced and shrouded in even tighter secrecy than when President George W. Bush traveled to the two countries in March 2006.  the report notes that author Ahmed Rashid, who has written a book on the Taliban, said the bombing was a "very provocative" move by the Taliban.

"They were waiting for a high-level visit to carry out an attack. This visit, although highly secretive, was known in circles in Kabul and Islamabad," he said.

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A senior Pakistani counter-terrorism official said the "sophisticated" attack "indicates the militants' preparedness and the quality of their intelligence collection in the run-up to the so-called spring offensive".

He added: "They must have had information (a) few days before that the US vice-president would be in town and stay at Bagram. This is not something you can plan with 12 hours notice."