A Taliban suicide bomber rammed a car into a NATO convoy near Kabul airport today, during a visit by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to assess rising violence in Afghanistan.
No casualties were reported among NATO troops in the morning rush hour blast on a road just outside the city's international airport, an alliance spokesman said. NATO said the attack, which occurred as Gates was meeting NATO commanders less than five miles (8 km) away, wounded 22 Afghan civilians.
A Taliban spokesman said the militant Islamic group carried out the attack to "welcome" Gates, who arrived in Kabul the previous evening.
The spokesman for NATO, which runs a force separate to the US military in Afghanistan, said one of its vehicles was damaged in the blast.
Today's blast reflected rising violence over the past two years in Afghanistan, the bloodiest period since the Taliban's removal from power in 2001.
Afghanistan's army chief, General Bismillah Khan, asked Gates for more security trainers and equipment to fight the Taliban.
"The biggest problem is we don't have enough mentors, enough advisers," Khan told Gates after they toured the Kabul Military Training Centre. "I need your prompt attention on this matter."
"The US government has been more than generous but our weapons are not adequate," he told the Pentagon chief.