Taliban attacks presidential palace, CIA station in Kabul

More than a dozen explosions were heard early Tuesday in Kabul as assailants clashed for hours with security personnel at the presidential palace’s eastern gate and the Ariana hotel which houses the CIA station. Police said all the attackers were killed. Taliban claimed the assault, which put to flight a crowd of reporters waiting for a news conference called by President Hamid Karzai who was inside the palace. The attack occurred three days after Karzai said his government would not take part in US-Taliban peace talks unless the process was “Afghan-led.” The talks were indefinitely postponed.