Chuck Hagel got an explosive introduction to his position as United States defense secretary this week. Just hours after his arrival in Afghanistan on Friday, a suicide bomber detonated his vest bomb in Kabul, killing at least 10. Hagel was being briefed in a secure location at the time of the attack, which occurred a few feet from the defense ministry’s exterior walls. The Taliban has already claimed responsibility for the event, saying the attack came in response to Hagel’s “spreading [of] lies” about its weaknesses. Visits to war zones by U.S. officials are never announced due to such risks.
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