Message Received

"Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms the targeted, cowardly terrorist attack today on a restaurant in Kabul.
"On behalf of all Canadians, we extend our sincerest condolences to the families and friends of those who were killed and injured in this horrible and senseless act of terror."
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird

Afghan security forces arrive at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Jan. 17, 2014. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)

"There was a suicide attack on a foreign hotel where special foreign invaders are coming for dinner. In this attack an explosive was used which was very strong and heavy casualties and massive destruction happened."
Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman

Reuters -- Omar Sobhani

"[The U.S. condemns] this despicable act of terrorism in the strongest possible terms."
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki

Fawad, a worker of a Lebanese restaurant who was injured during a suicide bombing attack outside the restaurant, looks at a damaged vehicle near the restaurant in Kabul January 18, 2014. (Reuters/Mohammad Ismail)

The attack took place at a restaurant, located in the diplomatic quarter of the central Wazir Akbar Khan area, . The area and the restaurant itself are considered high security zones. The restaurant is frequented by foreign diplomats, aid workers, journalists and Afghan businessmen. It is heavily secured, sitting on a small side street with an enclosed, windowless patio. There are no signs; people know of its presence and gravitate to it as they do other such establishments.

Guests must pass a series of steel airlocks. They are searched before being permitted to enter. Bags of dirt are stuffed around the modest building to act as potentially protective blast walls. The area is routinely full of police and security guards, stationed there proactively against the possibility of attacks. Those attacks have occurred, even in the most secure areas of the capital Kabul in recent months, leading up to the total withdrawal of foreign troops.

Canada's military training mission is on the cusp of completion and departure. Located close to Canada's Kabul embassy, the restaurant is a popular place for Canadians to congregate. According to Afghan officials, a suicide bomber detonated himself just outside La Taverna du Liban. At the time the restaurant was filled with foreigners and wealthy Afghan citizens. Simultaneous to the explosion, two gunmen ran in through the restaurant's back door, opening fire.

Had there possibly been any doubt in the minds of the foreign community, let alone the Government of Afghanistan and its enigmatic President Hamid Karzai, the Taliban are there, present and not yet accounted for, but the most recent atrocity is to be considered an accounting. A backlash against the continued presence of foreign troops, of any foreigners at all. A signal that cannot be misconstrued, that the Taliban is preparing to restore itself to its former position in control of the country.

Kabul police chief, Gen. Mohammad Zahir Zahir, noted that sixteen people were killed inside the restaurant. The death toll has since been raised to 21. The dead include both foreigners and Afghans, with a minimum of four other people wounded. Four UN personnel among those killed, stated UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. One Brit and two Canadians. And the International Monetary Fund's representative in Afghanistan, Wabel Abdallah, also among those killed.

Surely a more than satisfactory toll for the Taliban. Four of the dead were women, tweeted Deputy Afghan Interior Minister Ayoub Salangai, proving that modern technology lives unabashedly, grotesquely, alongside a fiery presence of medieval-era brutality expressed in religious fundamentalism.