This picture taken in Kabul on June 2, 2010 shows former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani. -AFP Photo

KABUL: Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that those behind Tuesday's killing of Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was leading peace efforts in Afghanistan, “will not prevail.”

”To those who offer only death and destruction to the Afghan people, our message is clear: you will not prevail,” Rasmussen said in a statement.

“You will not stop the Afghan people from taking their destiny in their own hands and you will not shake the resolve of the international and Afghan partnership.

“We will continue to work shoulder to shoulder to provide a better and safer future for the Afghan people.”

Rasmussen said he strongly condemned the killing of Rabbani by a Taliban suicide bomber who was carrying explosives in his turban.

“This is an attack on the Afghan people, as they begin to take their country's security in their own hands,” he added.

Foreign forces started handing control of security in some provinces to Afghan forces earlier this year ahead of a 2014 deadline for all foreign combat forces to leave Afghanistan.

There are currently 140,000 foreign forces in Afghanistan, mainly serving as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Opinion

Editorial

Punishing evaders
02 May, 2024

Punishing evaders

THE FBR’s decision to block mobile phone connections of more than half a million individuals who did not file...
Engaging Riyadh
Updated 02 May, 2024

Engaging Riyadh

It must be stressed that to pull in maximum foreign investment, a climate of domestic political stability is crucial.
Freedom to question
02 May, 2024

Freedom to question

WITH frequently suspended freedoms, increasing violence and few to speak out for the oppressed, it is unlikely that...
Wheat protests
Updated 01 May, 2024

Wheat protests

The government should withdraw from the wheat trade gradually, replacing the existing market support mechanism with an effective new one over the next several years.
Polio drive
01 May, 2024

Polio drive

THE year’s fourth polio drive has kicked off across Pakistan, with the aim to immunise more than 24m children ...
Workers’ struggle
Updated 01 May, 2024

Workers’ struggle

Yet the struggle to secure a living wage — and decent working conditions — for the toiling masses must continue.