The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on a restaurant in Kabul favored by foreigners working in the area that killed 21 people in a violent suicide attack, according to the Associated Press.
Reports claim the dead included the International Monetary Fund's Lebanese representative, Wabel Abdallah, and Vadim Nazarov, a Russian who was the chief political affairs officer at the U.N. Mission in Afghanistan, the AP reported.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai criticized America for failing in deterring terrorist and condemned the attack, according to the AP. Karzai has been postponing signing an agreement which would allow U.S. forces to stay past the withdrawal date approaching on April 5.
"If NATO forces and in the lead the United States of America want to cooperate and be united with Afghan people, they must target terrorism," Karzai said, according to the AP, adding the United States "was not successful in the past decade."
The attacker detonated explosives in front of the restaurant which is located around embassies, non-governmental organizations, home and offices of Afghan officials, the AP reported. After the explosives went off, two more attackers, who were shot afterwards by Afghan officials, came in through the kitchen and began shooting.
"There is no possible justification for this attack, which has killed innocent civilians, including Americans, working every day to help the Afghan people achieve a better future with higher education and economic assistance," the White House said in a statement Saturday, according to the AP.
Due to the location of the restaurant and the foreign clientele, the restaurant is heavily secured with bags of dirt piles used as blast walls, the AP reported. The streets surrounding the restaurant are filled with police and security guards due to the heavy increase in attacks.
All guests go through a series of steel airlocks and are searched before being allowed into the restaurant, according to the AP.
"The restaurant was known to be one of the more secure in the area and has therefore been given a green-light by many expatriate and official organizations," Michael Smith, the president of the American University of Afghanistan, told the AP.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an emailed statement the attack was in retaliation for an Afghan military operation against insurgents which killed civilians, according to the AP.
"The target of the attack was a restaurant frequented by high-ranking foreigners," the email read. He also said in the statement that the attack targeted a place "where the invaders used to dine with booze and liquor in the plenty," the AP reported.
Mujahid also wrote the group dealt a "heavy admonitory blow to the enemy which they shall never forget," according to the AP.
