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Friday's Kabul Attack: Targeting civilian foreigners

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed 13 foreigners and eight Afghans as they ate dinner at a Kabul restaurant last Friday. While deadly violence is not uncommon in Afghanistan, the suicide bombing and shooting has shaken the community of international civilians in Kabul....
CBC Radio ·
Flowers and placards outside a Kabul restaurant that was attacked on Friday, carried out by a Taliban suicide bomber and gunmen. Twenty-one people, including three United Nations staff and the International Monetary Fund's top representative in Afghanistan, died in the attack. (Reuters/Omar Sobhani)

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed 13 foreigners and eight Afghans as they ate dinner at a Kabul restaurant last Friday. While deadly violence is not uncommon in Afghanistan, the suicide bombing and shooting has shaken the community of international civilians in Kabul.

Friday's attack on a Kabul restaurant that killed 21 people, including two Canadian accountants, crossed a line. It's the first time the Taliban have targeted civilian foreigners in this way.

Efforts are underway this morning to bring the bodies of two Canadians home after they were killed Friday when a suicide bomber and two gunmen attacked a popular restaurant in Kabul.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed 13 foreigners and eight Afghans as they ate dinner at La Taverna du Liban.

• Bodies of Martin Glazer, Peter McSheffrey to return Wednesday — CBC News

Some of the victims worked for the American University of Afghanistan, the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund. The Canadians -- Martin Glazer and Peter McSheffrey, both from the Ottawa area -- worked for a financial services company auditing aid projects for the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.

While deadly violence is not uncommon in Afghanistan, this attack has shaken the community of international civilians in Kabul.

• Grabbing the Wolf's Tail By Graeme Smith — The New York Times

Graeme Smith is a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group in Kabul and former foreign correspondent for The Globe and Mail. He is also the author of The Dogs are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan. We reached Graeme Smith in Kabul.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Idella Sturino.

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