As the rockets land nearby and suicide bombers detonated explosives, which was opened President Hamid Karzai, to a national advisory peaceful assembly on Wednesday morning with the goal to win popular support for his plan to persuade Talibanand insurgent foot soldiers to stop fighting.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for attacks, and authorities said at least three suicide bombers were involved.
In his speech, which was interrupted by a rocket exploded nearby, and an exchange of shots, forcing Mr. Karzai to tell his audience not to worry, he spoke directly to the Taliban and invited them to join the government.
Within a few minutes, shook a large explosion from another rocket tent where the collection, known as a jirga held. The Jirga took a scheduled 10-minute break, but not continue until an hour and a half later, after the shooting had stopped.
At least one suicide bomber blew himself near Takya Khana mosque near Jirga area, said Ezatullah, a police officer in District 5, which includes this area. Like many Afghans, he uses only one name.
Mr. Ezatullah said police officials believed "a couple of suicide bombers" had come into the area.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, took credit for the attacks and said the rebels had sent four suicide bombers in Kabul, although he was not yet sure if someone had blown up.
"Our main purpose is to disturb the peace Jirga," Mr. Mujahid said, adding that the bombers were armed with automatic weapons, rocket launchers and grenades. He said they had installed on the roof of a building near the Kabul Polytechnic University and had been shot down on the jirga tent.
A security perimeter in Takya Khana area had been established around the mosque, university and Jirga site, all of which had been closed to the public in recent weeks.
According to an Afghan police commander who refused to give his name, had established a Taliban safe house in the area and began their assault from there. He said authorities had arrested an elderly man named Mohammed Nabih from Wardak province, who told them that he had been employed as a guard at the house 10 days ago. He was arrested Wednesday after he ran out of ammunition.
Officials recovered the house Wednesday afternoon and found the bodies of two dead insurgents inside. Thurs Afghan policemen were wounded in the operation.
Taliban infiltrated the area, according to some accounts, hidden in the head-to-toeburqas women traditionally wear in Afghanistan.
"It was a quick response from our security forces, said a presidential spokesman Waheed Omer." All three suicide bombers were killed. "He insisted that they do not come close enough to pose a threat to the jirga. It was unclear how many of the attackers their bombs before the police killed them.
In Mr. Karzai speak to the Jirga, he called the Taliban "brethren" and "dear Talib," and he described their journey to Pakistan, and their struggle as a response to the atrocities carried out by local Afghans, who had "disturbed them", and by foreign troops.
"To the Taliban forced to flee from the government and foreign troops' sake, they are welcome to come and join us," Mr. Karzai said.
Not allowed, he noted, they were linked to Al Qaeda and those who have injured innocent Afghans. He highlighted the killing teachers and researchers as particularly reprehensible.
"I can not forgive," Mr. Karzai said, "Al Qaeda or those who kill students, teachers, researchers, there is no room for them in the peace Jirga."
He made no reference to the most important reasons why people have joined the insurgency, which is frustration with the lack of public services and public anger over corruption and incompetence.
The Jirga elected Burhanudin Rabbani as president. Mr. Rabbani, leader of Jamiat-i-Islami party, a member of the coalition of opposition presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah, who lost a disputed election of President Karzai last year. Mr. Abdullah and many of his supporters refused to participate in the jirga.
The Advisory Jirga was in contrast to a Loya Jirga, is not binding, and participants are selected with heavy government intervention, raising questions about its conclusions will be taken seriously by the Afghans.
Call a jirga was one of Mr. Karzai's central campaign promises before his re-election last year, created a recognition of the growing public dissatisfaction with the war.
The result is largely determined by government hand-picked delegates and broad framework for discussion. But the event is not without risk. It has already been criticized for being more symbolic than practical, and even as a show of national government is trying to wring money from international donors.
"If you were serious about a reconciliation process, a jirga, as this would be the right thing to do to listen to people, to discuss complaints, resolve problems," said Martine van Biljert, co-leader of Afghanistan Analyst Network, a political research organization. "But it does not look like it will seriously create a platform for any of this."
Many of Mr. Karzai's fellow Pashtuns ethnic insisted that only talks with the Taliban leadership, and with Pakistan, which has long supported the rebels, end the war. Their support is crucial, as most fights are in the Pashtun areas, and the Taliban are mostly Pashtuns.
"I will tell you in two words, how to bring peace," said Hadji Muhammad Omar, a member of parliament from Kunduz, which served as a governor under the Taliban regime. "First, talk with the Taliban leadership and second, convince Pakistan."
The Jirga may call for the formation of a commission oldest to start contacts with the Taliban leadership, "said Mr. Wardak. But many Pashtuns are already saying Jirga is a waste of time without the presence of the Taliban. According to Afghan tribal custom is a jirga would bring the two warring parties together on neutral ground, while the elected elders negotiate and then give a solution that is binding on all parties.
Mr. Karzai plans soon to invite representatives of the Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami was abandoned in February, Mr. Wardak said. Taliban Leadership Council had agreed to enter into conversations and send representatives to a peace Jirga, according to two Afghan security guards, but the contacts ended after the arrest of Taliban's No. 2 leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Barad in January.
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