The Devaluation of Suicide Bombing

The bad news: Over the last several weeks, a total of 17 suicide bombers have attacked coalition forces in Afghanistan. The good news: Not one coalition member died in the attacks, a fact credited to increased training and awareness of how to deal with potential bombers. —JCL

The New York Times:

The Taliban’s suicide bombers have been selling their lives cheaply of late.

From Jan. 24 to Feb. 14, a total of 17 suicide bombers took aim at one coalition member after another but failed to kill any of them, according to a compilation of reports from Afghan police and military officials, and from the American-led International Security Assistance Force.

The latest failures were three suicide bombers who attacked an Afghan headquarters outside Marja on Sunday; local people reported them to the authorities, who shot them before they could set off their explosives, according to a spokesman for the Helmand Province governor.

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AP / Rahmat Gul

Security forces inspect the entrance to the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture in Kabul after a Taliban suicide attack in 2008.