Afghan Leader Karzai Blames Attacks on Nato ‘Failure’
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has linked Sunday’s militant attacks to intelligence failures, especially on the part of Nato.
In his first response to the attacks, Mr Karzai praised the performance of the Afghan security forces.
He said they had proved themselves capable of defending their country.
Officials say 51 people died in the fighting in Kabul and elsewhere: four civilians, 11 members of the security forces and 36 insurgents.
“The terrorists’ infiltration in Kabul and other provinces is an intelligence failure for us and especially for Nato and should be seriously investigated,” Mr Karzai said.
On Sunday, militants attacked the district in central Kabul where many embassies are located, as well as the parliament building. Nato’s headquarters in the city also came under assault.
The clashes in the city ended on Monday, 18 hours after they began, when the last gunman, who was fighting near the parliament in the west of the city, was killed.
Earlier on Monday morning, Afghan special forces flushed out gunmen who had been using a central Kabul construction site as a base from which to fire on foreign embassies and other targets.
Afghan security sources have told the BBC British special forces were eventually called in to help end the battle.
The US, German and British embassies were among the diplomatic missions targeted.