Tom Murphy 
Newswire21.org

A suicide bomber has killed the chief of Afghanistan's intelligence unit along with 21 others in a new blow to the Karzai administration, which is already reeling from charges it stole votes on a massive scale in the recent presidential election.

Abdulla Laghmani was the primary target of the attack in Mehtar Lam, just east of Kabul. The others killed included three government officials and several civilians. The BBC said it received a phone call from the Taliban claiming responsibility for the bombing.

The blast came as envoys from 27 nations were gathered in Paris, seeking a long-term solution to the 8-year-old war in Afghanistan and as the Obama administration considers a new classified report that is believed to lay the groundwork for an expanding American military presence.

The Paris group is expected to issue a statement on the recent election, which has drawn more than 2,600 significant complaints of widespread voter fraud. 

The New York Times reported some tribal leaders are now publicly claiming that "Karzai's team stole votes" in a bid to capture more than 50 percent of the tally, a level that would eliminate the need for a run-off against leading challenger Abdullah Abdullah.

No Votes
Delaga Bariz, the governor of the Shorabak district, claimed he was detained by offiicials loyal to Karzai. "Not a single person in Shoraback District cast a ballot," he told the paper. "Mr. Karzai's people stuffed all the ballot boxes."

A rise in violence and the election turmoil is raising new questions about the US involvement in Afghanistan, which many Americans believe could turn into an unwinable Vietnam-style conflict. The former Soviet Union eventually withdrew from Afghanistan after its own failed military campaign. The country has been at war for most of the past three decades.

Another problem for the US has been the soaring rate of opium production in Afghanistan. Opium crops were banned under Taliban rule prior to the US invasion, but the country produced 93 percent of the world's supply in 2007, according to the UN. The UN reported this week that opium production fell by 10 percent during the past year, and the Obama administration has indicated it intends to make this a priority in the year ahead.

Troops Levels
Obama deployed an additional 21,000 American troops to Afghanistan prior to the election with a warning that the campaign there would be hard and long. They will bring US troop levels to 68,000; an additional 40,000 troops from other countries are also under US command. August was the deadliest month in Afghanistan for Americans since the war began, with 49 deaths. 

In addition to US troops, the Pentagon also employs tens of thousands of private contractors in the country. The Times estimated that 57 percent of the Pentagon's force in Afghanistan were contractors as of March, the highest level for any war in history. 

Earlier this week, in Paris, Kai Eide, the top UN official for Afghanistan, complained that foreign governments predominantly funded small, easy projects that lacked national impact.

"The piecemeal approach is not going to get results," said Eide. "Enough is enough with the piecemeal approach."

He stressed the international community needs to coordinate big-picture goals and major missions that will help Afghanistan in the long-term. One example was to overhaul the country's transportation network in order to boost the economy.