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FrankRep
01-01-2010, 09:26 PM
Suicide Bomber May Have Been Helped by CIA Informant
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126235171131012657.html?mod=article-outset-box)

Wall Street Journal
JANUARY 1, 2010


KABUL--The suicide bomber who killed eight Americans, including seven CIA officers, this week might have been able to get through multiple layers of security at the U.S. compound aided by an Afghan informant with the agency, a Western official said Friday.

If this is true, it suggests insurgents had turned the tables on the CIA and been able to place their own agents close to the facility the CIA used to cultivate informants.

On Wednesday, CIA officials had invited the attacker onto the base with the hopes of recruiting him as an informant. They used an Afghan intermediary to arrange the meeting. The attacker arrived, wearing an Afghan army uniform, officials said.

The assault shows a strategy the insurgency has increasingly employed here in recent months: using the uniforms and vehicles of the Afghan army and police to carry out attacks.

At times, militants strike with the help of sympathizers in the Afghan forces. In November, an Afghan police officer opened fire on Western forces, killing five British soldiers, and a similar incident happened in early December. Insurgent sympathizers in the police force helped plan both attacks, Afghan officials said.

Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province has served as a hub for U.S. intelligence activities in the southeastern part of the Afghanistan. Intelligence agents at the base cultivated informants and passed along information about insurgent commanders for Special Operations Forces to target, officials said.

The main target in Khost is the Haqqani network, a Taliban-aligned faction active in the area that is considered one of the most potent and dangerous guerrilla forces in the country.

"We've had a number of successful operations against the Haqqanis," said a Western official. "We've picked up bomb makers and killed commanders, all through intelligence."

In recent months, the U.S. has stepped up its attacks on insurgent leaders, leading to the deaths of a number of Haqqani and Taliban commanders. Between August and October, 30 insurgent leaders have been captured or killed in the eastern part of the country, and officials said that the operations have continued through the end of the year. Those killed include Mullah Farid Fazil Lang, who was involved in the kidnapping of New York Times journalist David Rohde, and Sali Jan, an important Haqqani network commander who operated near the Pakistani border.

The targeting of insurgent leaders "has really dealt a blow to the Taliban," said Roshanak Wardak, a lawmaker from Wardak province. "Some of the most feared commanders have been killed."

The loss of seven CIA agents in the strategically important area of Khost could deal a blow to U.S. efforts collect intelligence needed to crush insurgent leaders, Western and Afghan officials said.


SOURCE:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126235171131012657.html?mod=article-outset-box