British charity worker gunned down in Afghanistan

A British lady is the latest casualty of the omnipotent Afghan insurgency who was shot dead in Afghanistan’s central capital Kabul by armed motorcyclists while on way to her office Monday morning. Afghan officials said the woman named Gayle William was a South African national. However, British embassy in Kabul said she was a British citizen. Employee of a Christian charity involved in assisting disabled and destitute as well as their rehabilitation and education, the woman was shot dead in the southern parts of Kabul. Hours after the murder, a telephone caller, introducing himself as Taliban spokesman Zabeehullah Mujahid, told media offices in Kabul that their men are responsible for the attack. The purported spokesman said the woman was involved in spreading Christianity and their leaders ordered the Mujahideen or holy warriors to kill her. Police and witnesses said the woman was on foot when came under fire from the motorcyclists in Kart-e-Chhar area of this Afghan capital. She used to travel the same road on her bicycle, residents said. Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry spokesman Zmary Bashari said investigations had been ordered into the murder. He said police trying to arrest the killers, a statement usually issued by Afghan officials after every such incident. However, no killer had been arrested and punished so far. In mid August, armed men waylaid a car carrying three foreign women - an American, a Canadian and an Irish - in Afghanistan’s central province of Logar and killed them along with their Afghan driver. The three women were employees of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). They were coming from Afghanistan’s southeastern Paktia province to Kabul when their car was intercepted in Logar province, located some 60 kilometres southeast of Kabul, and sprayed them with bullets. Claiming responsibility for the brutal murder, Taliban said it was their revenge for the killing of Afghan civilians by US and NATO forces in air strikes and ground operations. The militants vowed they would continue killing foreigners as long as the NATO and US troops are killing civilians in military operations. Last month, armed men gunned down a top Afghan woman police officer Lieutenant Colonel Malalay KakaKakar in the country’s southern province of Kandahar, the former stronghold of Taliban and birth place of their one-eyed spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad OmarMullah Mohammad Omar. Kakar was also killed by motorcyclists while on way from her house to office in Kandahar. In yet another such attack in the same city, motorcyclists shot dead a tribal elder and his son as the two were returning to their house after offering their morning prayer at a nearby mosque. During a press conference in Kabul last week, Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim WardakAbdul Rahim Wardak admitted that violence had sharply increased during the current year as compared to the previous one. Casualties of the Afghan soldiers, police, foreign troops as well as civilians have been mounted triggering fear among people about hard times ahead. Analysts believe the best option with the Afghan government and the foreign troops was to apply political means alongside military might to find a solution to the imbroglio. They say when the foreign troops with their well-equipped air force and support from the Afghan forces, failed to subdue the Taliban in seven years - since late 2001 - it does not seem the insurgency will be crushed with military might in the coming seven years. Therefore, the best option is to apply political means alongside military force, they believe. ENDS