AFGHANISTAN Rocket hits near president

Officials questioned whether it was an assassination attempt.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A rocket exploded near President Hamid Karzai on Thursday, forcing him to abandon his trip to Gardez and raising questions about how difficult it will be for him to campaign for office.
As the U.S. military helicopter carrying Karzai was about to land in Gardez, about noon, a rocket was fired at the aircraft but missed by 300 yards, the U.S. military said. No one was injured.
Government officials said the rocket hit almost a mile from the helicopter and questioned whether it was an assassination attempt. Rockets are often fired in Gardez and the rest of Paktia province, as in much of Afghanistan, and they rarely hit their targets.
"It was not launched at the president," insisted Asadullah Wafa, the governor of Paktia province, who was waiting at the governor's house with thousands of people when the rocket was fired. "It is something usual."
Upcoming election
Regardless, the rocket is yet another disturbing sign about security in the run-up to the country's first direct presidential election Oct. 9. If it was an assassination attempt, it would mark the second on Karzai's life since he took over as Afghanistan's interim president in late 2001. An attacker shot at Karzai in Kandahar in September 2002.
It was difficult to hear anything on the helicopter, said Rafiullah Mojaddedi, who works for the presidential spokesman's office. "We didn't know what happened," he said. "We couldn't see anything."
Wafa said that the rocket was fired from a bicycle in the village of Robat, northwest of Gardez, and that police were close to arresting the men who fired it.
American guards
Despite the rocket, Karzai wanted to land the helicopter and go to the governor's house, officials said. They blamed American bodyguards for forcing the helicopter to turn around. A U.S. security firm has guarded Karzai since shortly after the Afghan vice president was killed in July 2002.
"President Karzai was very much willing to go to Gardez," said Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
In Gardez, about 60 miles south of the capital city of Kabul, Karzai was supposed to attend the opening ceremony of Paktia University and the local opening of the national police, Wafa said.
"Paktia people really, really want to see Hamid Karzai," Wafa said. "They were surprised when he didn't come, and I was upset that he didn't come."