Heavy security in Kabul for canceled celebration

By AMIR SHAH

KABUL—Thousands of police patrolled Afghanistan’s capital Tuesday, a national holiday meant to celebrate the victory of guerrilla fighters over invading Soviet forces in the 1980s.

Afghan officials canceled all public events this year because of a high-profile Taliban attack on last year’s parade, which was attended by President Hamid Karzai.

Last year’s attack killed three people, including a lawmaker who was only 30 yards (meters) from Karzai. Hundreds of people, including army and police, fled in chaos as shots rang out. The president was hustled away, surrounded by bodyguards.

Officials flirted with the idea of holding a public celebration this year, but ultimately canceled any public observance. Instead, police in body armor and wielding heavy weapons have been stationed around the capital to deter any repeat attack.

"We have our tightest security up. Police are carrying out extensive searches at the four gates of Kabul," said Mustafa Wardak, a spokesman for Kabul’s police chief.

Militants fired rockets at a NATO military base in Kabul early Tuesday, wounding two French soldiers, Wardak said, but no other incidents had been reported. He said 7,300 police were deployed around the city, as were soldiers, intelligence units and members of the NATO coalition.

In violence just south of the capital, the Interior Ministry said 12 "terrorists" and a police official were killed during a clash in Kabul province on Monday. In the east, a roadside bomb on Monday killed four police.

Militant violence has spiked across Afghanistan the last three years, as the Taliban gained strength as an insurgency after their radical Islamist regime was toppled by the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. President Barack Obama has ordered 21,000 additional U.S. troops to the country to bolster the record 38,000 American forces already in the country.