The morning began quietly here in Kabul, but a text message broke through saying "Afghan Security Forces engaged in central city". Then there were sirens. Reports came in that a suicide bomber had been stopped short of his goal and had detonated himself on the steps of a government ministry.

The truth comes more slowly. This was a skillful and coordinated attack into the heart of Afghanistan's capital city by "Anti-Government Forces" meaning it could be the Taliban or it could be Al Qaeda. The distinction seems important the farther away you are from the mayhem, but the Taliban here took credit and announced that 20 suicide bombers were loose in the city.

I met our security director, a former military man who has fought in these hills. He gave a formal security brief as to what we should do in case of attack, and also assured me of other measures that could be taken. Trying to drive with him to another location just two blocks away proved impossible as roadblocks were thrown up across Kabul.

Most of my worries were for what family at home might think if I did not get to them before the news broke in the States. I did reach home. My mother spoke of the Jets football game, which reassured me about her calm. My wife, a former US diplomat who has served in war zones, said "We're proud of what you are doing there", as I heard my three-year-old son in the background, I wished at that moment more than anything to see my boy.

For those who remember the "Tet Offensive" in Vietnam in 1968, there were shadows of that event. Like Tet, this was a daylight strike into the center of power of our ally - and they were seemingly unable to react quickly. A shock to the system, realizing the capability of the enemy and the vulnerability of our ally. After eight years of effort, billions of dollars and 100,000 NATO troops, the Taliban held ground in central Kabul for three hours today.

But unlike Tet, this was one attack, not one of a hundred across the nation. I thought of my nephew who is serving here in  Afghanistan with the Connecticut National Guard. It occured to me more than ever that we are working in a common effort, to stabilize this land from which came the attacks of September 11th.

I did not see US troops reacting to this; for they are busy out in the countryside. However an hour into the fray, I saw familiar green blackhawk helicopters sweep in low past our neighborhood on their way to counterattack. Reassuring in one sense, but an expression of impotence in another. Hard to counter small scale raids and bombings with that type of force. The damage had been done.

As Hamid Karzai, the man we pin our hopes on in this land, swore in his new Cabinet officers, the Taliban struck just a couple hundred yards from his Presidential Palace where the swearing in occurred.

Phone was sketchy today, internet out most of the day till now- and it is 3 a.m.  As for me- what could I do but continue with the work I'm here to do? I worked with local partners here to strengthen our efforts at building up Afghan political parties in anticipation of their Parliamentary elections in the spring.

The definition of terrorism, or so I learned while working on the US House Homeland Security Commitee a few years again, is "violence targeting civilians with the purpose of affecting political behavior and decisionmaking". Today was an act of terrorism in the city where I'm living. It was meant to shake the Afghan government and those of us working here.

So in my own small way I decided the best thing I could do was keep doing my work.