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July 28, 2011

Afghan Mayor Killed in Suicide Attack 
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The mayor of the Afghan city of Kandahar was killed by a suicide bomber
Wednesday while leaving a city hall meeting. Ghulam Haidar Hamidi —
who possessed duel Afghan and American citizenship — had expressed
concerns about his safety in the preceding months. Hamidi is the latest
Afghan official with close U.S. ties to lose his life in a string of
attacks. President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother was killed earlier this
month. Despite the setbacks, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said the
killings in fact signify a weakened al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Ryan Crocker: "I would judge that the Taliban is now damaged to the
point where they can no longer conduct field operations and they have
had to regroup and figure out what they can do and in some cases that
has been assassinations, and again, very similar patterns in Iraq.
Clearly these are horrific attacks, but they can also be interpreted as
a significant organizational weakness on the part of the adversary."



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