Assassinations rise in Afghanistan amid negotiations

THE TRAFFIC jams in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, have recently yielded a sombre new spectacle. Almost every day, drivers crawling along at rush hour have had to pass the blasted or bullet-riddled cars of those whose commute has ended in an assassin’s attack. Two female judges were shot dead on their way to work on January 17th. A car from the telecoms ministry was blown up the next day. The day after, in a province to the south, a journalist was hurt in a bomb attack. Some targets are bigwigs’ 4x4s, others are humble saloons.

The assassins’ favourite tactics are to sneak a “sticky bomb”—a magnetic one—onto or under a car when it is stationary, or simply to ride up on the back of a motorbike and open fire. Kabul’s traffic makes the targets sitting ducks.