An Afghan Candidate Wrote His Will, Then Survived a Suicide Squad

Even before he received specific intelligence about an attempt planned on his life, Amrullah Saleh had a feeling they were coming for him soon. So he wrote his will.
As a former Afghan intelligence chief who is staunchly anti-Taliban, he had been near the top of the militants’ list for a long time. But now there was an added reason for targeting him: He was about to launch his campaign as the running-mate of President Ashraf Ghani in his September re-election bid.
About a week ago, Mr. Saleh took a new look at the four-page will. He added instructions for his wife and five children on how to handle news of his death, and how to gain access to his savings.
Mr. Saleh said he was convinced that “I wasn’t going to survive this time.”
The attack he dreaded came on Sunday, the first day of the presidential campaign, after he and President Ghani had appeared at a tightly guarded rally in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital.

Soon after Mr. Saleh reached his political headquarters, he was greeted by an enormous car bomb. That was followed by a half-dozen suicide bombers climbing up to his fourth-floor office.
In the nearly seven hours of havoc that ensued, about 30 people were dead — 20 of them Mr. Saleh’s guests or colleagues who had spent years at his side.

The candidate narrowly escaped after a 50-minute battle with the insurgents, engaging them from the building’s rooftop where weapons were kept.
“They had come to kill me at any price, and they did everything right,” Mr. Saleh said. “That I am alive is God’s help, God’s will, and maybe a little help from my background. I am deeply shaken — my emotions, my humanity. But my determination to fight is strengthened. I have 20 more reasons to fight.”

Mr. Saleh, 46, is a longtime survivor: of suicide attacks and ambushes, of years of political isolation, but also of a deeply deprived upbringing. As a child, he was orphaned and left destitute.
His ascension to the highest levels of Afghan politics — he has allied with Mr. Ghani, whom he once staunchly criticized — comes in one the most difficult and uncertain periods of the Afghan war. Bodies are piling up on all sides, and an American search for a political settlement through negotiations is proving difficult.
The bloodshed has only furthered concerns about the repeatedly delayed vote. The Taliban control or threaten large swathes of the countryside. In the urban centers, Taliban militants, as well as members of the Islamic State, are waging suicide attacks.
Amid this heightened insecurity, candidates and voters alike are proceeding cautiously.
On Monday, the second day of the campaign, none of the 18 candidates held a rally or public gathering, local media reported.