KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Afghan-Canadian governor of Kandahar said Saturday a bombing outside his office that killed a police officer and injured 14 civilians is likely the work of insurgents who stand to lose if a planned peace agreement forges ahead.
But Tooryalai Wesa said Saturday's explosion near his palace won't sideline efforts to bring an end to the conflict with the Taliban that has torn his country apart for nearly a decade.
"There will be some people who are against this process because their profits are in jeopardy ... it's not for everybody," Wesa told The Canadian Press from Kabul.
Wesa was in the capital for a national peace conference when the bomb went off at midday in downtown Kandahar city. Police say the explosives were strapped to a bicycle on the street outside the compound where Wesa lives and works.
"Not a surprise," Wesa said of the bombing.
A spokesman for Wesa said the wounded included five children.
The attack was the latest in a spate of bombings and shootouts in Kandahar that have injured and killed dozens, complicating coalition efforts to alleviate the fears of the city's 500,000 inhabitants.
It comes one day after a peace conference, known as a jirga, concluded Friday calling on insurgents to sever ties with foreign terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida.
A resolution tabled at the jirga also supports the release of Taliban prisoners in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and at Bagram Airfield.
"This is a good opportunity for the Taliban," said Wesa, who was born in Kandahar province but once lived in Coquitlam, B.C. "That message will go to the country, to the people and to the world."
But the Taliban has rejected the conference as a farce, accusing delegates of either being government supporters or western spies. Its leaders say peace talks are not possible until foreign troops withdraw from the country -- a request President Hamid Karzai has dismissed as the war rages on.
A broad reconciliation process would require the co-operation of insurgents outside the Taliban.
Afghanistan's insurgency is made up of three groups: the Taliban in the south; Hizb-i-Islami throughout most of the country and the Haqqani network, which operates primarily in the east and has deep ties to al-Qaida.
Of the three, the Haqqani network is considered the most radical and has been responsible for training insurgents in deadlier ambush tactics, including bigger roadside bombs.
Kandahar is the spiritual home of the Taliban, whose leaders harboured al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden until a U.S.-led invasion ousted them from power after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Taliban has since rebounded as an insurgent movement that aims to take advantage of local discontent over government corruption and resentment among Pashtuns over the rising power of other Afghan ethnic groups.
Kandahar is the focus of a NATO offensive that aims to flush the Taliban out of insurgent strongholds this summer.
The Taliban has promised to launch an offensive of its own in retaliation targeting coalition soldiers and staff, foreign contractors and government officials.
With files from The Associated Press
