Was The Taliban's Intended Target In Friday's Attack An Unprotected Christian-Run Day Care Center?

Foreigners were evacuated by the police as Taliban assailants struck in Kabul on Friday. Credit Omar Sobhani/Reuters

Attack at Wrong Door Turns Into Fatal Mistake for the Taliban, Reports Say -- New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban assailants apparently thought they were attacking an unprotected Christian-run day care center. But they mistakenly burst into the compound next door, where an American government contractor’s employees were heavily armed and ready, according to accounts that the contractor and the Afghan police gave on Friday of a wild four-hour shootout here.

The contractor, Roots of Peace, which runs agricultural projects financed by the United States Agency for International Development, had taken the precaution of blocking its front gate with an armored Land Cruiser, which guards used to take cover behind and shoot at the attackers, said Gary Kuhn, the group’s president, interviewed by telephone from its headquarters in San Rafael, Calif.

That slowed the attackers enough for the guards and the five foreign residents to retreat into the house and upstairs. “There’s a circular staircase which is very hard to take cover on. One tried coming up it, and the guard shot him,” Mr. Kuhn said, citing accounts from his staff members in Kabul.

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My Comment: All the attackers were killed .... so we will never know the answer .... but if this unprotected Christian-run day care center was the intended target, it would have been a horrific massacre and a clear warning to all foreigners in the country that they should leave.