Grim awakening

Grim awakening

The attack on the Bekhtar guesthouse began just before dawn on Wednesday morning. Like many in this quarter of the Afghan capital, I awoke abruptly to the sound of gunfire and several loud explosions. What terror ensued for those in their beds at the Bekhtar is beyond imagining.

The aftermath is all too clear. Six United Nations staffers killed and several others wounded, some seriously. At least two Afghan security personnel killed.

One woman was heard screaming for help in English from the top floor of the three-storey building as gunfire continued and the building began to burn. Another man escaped over a wall, an arm and leg broken, possibly having leapt to the ground from high up.

At the gateway to the building lay the messy remains of one of the three attackers. He'd apparently detonated an explosive vest strapped to his body - possibly the Taliban's means of gaining entry to the compound.

On the facts, this was an attack targetting foreigners in the form of UN personnel. Rockets fired shortly afterwards in the direction of the luxury Serena hotel appear to confirm that conclusion.

But there are other facts that prompt a more complex understanding of what happened on Wednesday morning. Two other people - not residents of the Bekhtar - were also killed in the fighting. One was a security guard employed to protect the home of Hamid Karzai's father-in-law - next door to the Bekhtar.

At the home immediately behind the guesthouse another victim, the brother-in-law of Gul Aga Sherzai, the current governor of Jalalabad. Sherzai is a powerful force in the pashtun south where Taliban strength is at its greatest, and also where Mr Karzai draws the majority of his support.

A final twist: on Monday a suicide bomber entered a hotel in Jalalabad where Governor Sherzai was believed to be attending a meeting - he was not there. On the same day shots were fired at his motorcade.

On the strength of these facts there's a distinct possibility the Bekhtar and its resident population of UN staff was not the sole target. Rather that the Taliban were tempted by a confluence of high-value targets: foreign UN workers, a relative of the President himself, and one of Karzai's most powerful backers.

But that is not meant to comfort the thousands of foreign workers from a multitude of agencies and institutions housed in guesthouses around the city. They are all legitimate Taliban targets now, either for their work in support of the Afghan people, or the instutions of government, or the election process.

There are a lot of worried foreigners in Kabul this afternoon, wondering whether their accomodation is safe. The unhappy truth is that no one can say for sure.