Cheney Escapes Attack by Bomber in Afghanistan
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Secret Service agents rushed Vice President Cheney to the safety of a bomb shelter yesterday when a suicide bomber attacked an American base in Afghanistan, killing as many as 21 people. The Taliban claimed that it was an assassination attempt on the vice president.
Mr. Cheney had spent the night at Bagram Air Base and breakfasted with American troops before the bomber detonated his explosives at a security checkpoint outside the camp, 40 miles north of the capital Kabul. The bomber had mingled with Afghan laborers waiting to begin work inside the sprawling base. He detonated a device strapped to his body when challenged at the first of the several checkpoints.
An American soldier and a South Korean colleague were among the dead. Mr. Cheney escaped injury and the attack failed to disrupt his itinerary.
He later visited Kabul for talks with President Karzai about the expected Taliban spring offensive, before flying to the Middle East.
The bombing came as a potent reminder of the Taliban’s murderous intent.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said: “We knew that Dick Cheney would be staying inside the base. The attacker was trying to reach Cheney.”
But American officials cast doubt on the claim that it was a pre-planned attack on the vice-president, pointing out that Mr. Cheney had made an unscheduled overnight stay at Bagram after bad weather prevented him traveling to Kabul on Monday evening.
Speaking en route to Oman, Mr. Cheney said: “They clearly try to find ways to question the authority of the central government.
“Striking at Bagram with a suicide bomber, I suppose, is one way to do that. It shouldn’t affect our behavior.”
Crowds of anguished relatives collected the bodies of Afghan civilians, which were lined up in body bags for identification outside the main gate.
“My brother,” screamed one man over the corpse of one of the victims.
Another man helped to carry away the body of a man named Said, a 28-year-old driver from the west of Afghanistan, who was delivering supplies to the base.
Taliban commanders have boasted that they have several thousand volunteers ready to carry out suicide bombings. Such attacks were all but unknown in Afghanistan until two years ago. A total of 21 occurred in 2005, rising to 139 last year.
