A Taliban suicide bomber killed 14 people and wounded 145 in the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday, an attack the government said raised questions about the militants’ commitment to peace despite an expected deal with the United States.
There has been no let-up in violence in Afghanistan even though the Taliban and the US appear close to a pact for US troops to withdraw in exchange for a Taliban promise that Afghanistan will not be used as a base for international terrorism.
The truck bomb in the west of the capital during the morning rush hour sent a huge cloud of grey smoke into the sky.
Indiscriminate attacks and intentional Injury to civilians are never warranted. We condemn the attack today in Kabul for which the Taliban claimed responsibility, and in which scores were killed and reportedly more than 145 injured, including many civilians.
— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) August 7, 2019
The Taliban said one of their suicide bombers had attacked a “recruitment centre” in response to government attacks in the countryside.
Most of the dead and wounded were civilians, including women and children, government officials said.
“Continued Taliban attacks indicate that they have no commitment to peace,” Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for president Ashraf Ghani, told a news conference.
Zalmay Khalizad, the US envoy negotiating with the Taliban to end America’s longest war, condemned the blast.
“Indiscriminate attacks and intentional injury to civilians are never warranted,” Khalizad tweeted. “The focus should be on immediately reducing violence as we move closer to intra-Afghan negotiations that will produce a political roadmap and a permanent ceasefire.”
No impact
US president Donald Trump has announced his aim to end a war launched in the days after the September 11th, 2001, attacks on the US.
Mr Khalizad began his negotiations late last year in Qatar but the talking has not brought a reduction in the violence. The violence has had virtually no impact on the talks.
Both sides reported significant progress this week in their efforts to forge a pact.
About 20,000 foreign troops, most of them American, are in Afghanistan as part of a US-led NATO mission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces. Some US forces carry out counter-terrorism operations.
The Taliban said Wednesday’s bomb was a response to daily attacks by government forces in the countryside.
“You shall pay for your crimes in villages and rural areas right in Kabul and other cities,” the spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a post on Twitter.
Nevertheless, he said “steady but positive progress” was being made in the talks, and efforts were aimed at a solution that does not generate problems in future.
Fear
A Taliban promise to talk peace with the US-backed government is likely be part of any agreement with the US, but many Afghan government officials fear their war with the Taliban will not end.
The militants control more territory than at any point since the United States bombed them out of power in 2001 and both sides have been launching assaults, and suffering heavy casualties.
Wednesday’s suicide attack came a day after the Taliban called for a boycott of the planned September 28th presidential election and threatened to attack election rallies.
The bomb exploded when the truck carrying it was stopped at a checkpoint outside the police station. It caused extensive damage with facades blown off buildings and a jumble of rubble and vehicles strewn around a huge crater.
Four of the 14 people killed were policemen and the rest were civilians while 92 of the 145 wounded were civilians, deputy interior minister Khoshal Sadat told a news conference. – Rueters