Kabul assassination
September 20, 2011
Afghanistan's former President Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed in a suicide attack at his home while holding talks with members of the Taliban on Tuesday.
Rabbani - who had spent the past few years in opposition - had been appointed head of the Afghan High Peace Council in October and was tasked by President Hamid Karzai to forge a peace deal with the Taliban.
His killers had presented themselves as emissaries bringing "special messages" from the Taliban.
It is thought one of the killers had hidden explosives in his turban, which he detonated when greeting the negotiator.
In a statement, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Rabbani's killers would not shake the resolve of the international and Afghan partnership.
"To those who offer only death and destruction to the Afghan people," said Rasmussen, "our message is clear: you will not prevail."
Trip cut short
President Karzai was in the United States for talks with US President Barack Obama when he received news of the killing and decided to cut his trip short.
But before leaving Karzai said the killing "would not deter" Afghanistan from its peace efforts and that Rabbani had been an "Afghan patriot who sacrificed his life."
US President Obama described the assassination a "senseless act of violence."
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "absolutely appalled" by the news, adding that Rabbani would be "sorely missed" but that "the work of the Peace Council will go on."
A statement from the office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the assassination a "terrorist act of unbearable cowardice."
"The terrorists killed a man of peace, who worked with determination for the reconciliation of Afghans," Sarkozy said, adding that France would "fight the scourge of terrorism relentlessly" in Afghanistan.
Ongoing fight
It is the highest-profile killing in Afghanistan since the Taliban were removed from power by coalition forces in 2001.
But there are still 140,000 international troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban - led mostly by US and NATO command.
They have begun handing over authority to Afghan forces and are due to leave the country by the end of 2014.
Author: Zulfikar Abbany, David Levitz (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Rob Turner