Amrullah Saleh, a vice presidential hopeful in Afghanistan's upcoming polls, narrowly escaped another assassination attempt on Sunday. His survival mirrors that of his country and could be a harbinger of things to come.

Amrullah Saleh has donned many hats in the course of his eventful life and has served in several positions in Afghanistan, including as spy chief, interior minister and now Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s running mate in upcoming elections.

Along the way, the pugnacious intelligence chief-turned-politician has made some lethal enemies, many of whom, it could be said, would prefer him dead.

He hasn’t given them that satisfaction yet.

Saleh’s latest death-defying experience is the most alarming to date, underscoring the failure of the US-led international mission in Afghanistan and America’s post-World War II predilection for abandoning allies to their fates.

It comes as Afghan and American politicians are eyeing presidential elections in their respective countries, with President Donald Trump pushing for a peace deal with the Taliban ahead of the November 2020 US election.

On Sunday, as Afghanistan was marking the start of the 2019 presidential campaign season, a coordinated suicide and gun attack on Saleh’s party headquarters in Kabul killed 20 people – most of them civilians – and wounded 50 others.

Saleh narrowly escaped by jumping off the roof of the four-story structure onto a neighbouring building as attackers – armed with suicide vests and guns – made their way to his office on the top floor, just minutes after a massive car bombing shook the premises.

Like many Afghans, Bilal Sarwary, a seasoned Afghan journalist, was not surprised by the latest attempt on Saleh’s life. But he was stunned by the sophistication of the attack.

“I was quite shocked with how far the attackers got. I have been to his office and home, I’ve had coffee with Saleh in his fourth-floor office, and his security is very tight. The attack was clearly very sophisticated and well planned," said Sarwary. "They must have rented a house near the building, someone must have provided the complicated office plan. I can’t imagine how they got to the fourth floor."

‘Hit me more. Hit me again’

The 46-year-old Afghan candidate has survived so many assassination attempts that a popular aphorism about Saleh’s “nine lives” has been gaining traction in Kabul circles.

Death, in its most sudden, violent form, is a prospect Saleh has confronted for over a decade and it’s a subject he has frequently addressed in media interviews.

“I am a very, very legitimate target,” said Saleh in a 2009 interview with a US television network. “And if they kill me, I have told my family and my friends not to complain about anything because I have killed many of them – with pride,” he added, his eyebrows emphatically shooting up.

A decade later, Saleh was at it again. This week in an interview with the New York Times after Sunday’s attack, he recounted how he had recently updated his will.

A compact, physically fit man, Saleh has routinely brushed aside concerns over his security. But the celebrated survivor appeared to be suffering from survivor’s guilt as he recounted how a relative of a bodyguard slain in the July 28 attack slapped the Afghan vice presidential candidate during a hospital visit early Monday. “I pulled him in and said, ‘Hit me more’,” Saleh told the Times. “He hit me again.”

Asking his bodyguards to step back, Saleh said he asked the grieving relative whether his own death would have eased his pain. When the man replied in the affirmative, Saleh said, “I pulled my handgun, loaded it, and gave it to him.”

The young man hesitated before returning the gun, Saleh said. The story promptly went viral in Afghan social media circles along with messages of support for a “brave Afghan patriot”.

From poverty to politics

In many ways, the life and times of Amrullah Saleh reflect the crises Afghanistan has faced over four decades of war and resistance.

As the US seeks to wind down its nearly 18-year military operation in Afghanistan, Saleh’s unyielding, sometimes controversial positions on current negotiations with the Taliban is a harbinger of the challenges the country is likely to face if it is to achieve a just and lasting peace.

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