U.S. sees Haqqani network behind ambulance bombing in Kabul

The United States has long blamed militant safe havens in Pakistan for prolonging the war in Afghanistan, giving insurgents from the Haqqani network a place to plot attacks and rebuild their forces.

“We are very confident the Taliban Haqqani network was behind the killing of more than 103 people this past Saturday,” said Captain Tom Gresback, a U.S. military spokesman for the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, without elaborating further on U.S. intelligence or offering any link to Pakistan.

Another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told Reuters the United States believed the attack was the work of the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network, which Washington and Kabul have long accused of being behind some of the Afghanistan’s most deadly attacks.

Afghanistan’s envoy to the United Nations, Mahmoud Saikal, on Monday suggested the plot was too complex for the Taliban to have developed on their own.

“Given the degree of sophistication ... can you expect an illiterate Taliban to come up with this kind of genius plot, using ambulances?” Saikal told Reuters in an interview, adding Kabul was still gathering information.  “It’s not a simple thing to do.” - Read More

U.S. sees Haqqani network behind ambulance bombing in Kabul

Eleven Afghan soldiers killed in latest attack in Kabul