The choice of a lightly guarded restaurant was a departure for the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack. The insurgents have more often sought to strike fortified government buildings and high-profile symbols of the Western presence in Afghanistan, like the American Embassy and a building believed to house the C.I.A. station in Kabul.
Most, if not all, of those killed or wounded were likely to have been civilians; coalition service members are rarely allowed to go to restaurants or socialize outside their bases.