Yet another day of destructive violence in Kabul showed that the ability of the Taliban to launch attacks at will has not been diminished. First, there was a double suicide bombing near the Afghan Defence Ministry which killed at least 24 people, many of whom were senior security officials. Later on Monday night, three attackers stage a suicide bombing in front of the international aid group Pamlarena’s offices and then took hostages and barricaded themselves in their offices. The siege lasted well into Tuesday morning and after 11 hours the police were able to kill all three attackers, while 11 others were also killed. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the defence ministry bombing while no one has stepped forward to take credit for the Pamlarena attacks. These two targets, along with the attack on the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul last week, tell us a lot about the targets militants in Afghanistan are going after. Anyone who is seen as complicit in any way with the foreign occupying forces – and in the Taliban’s mind that seems to include students studying at universities paid for by the American and international aid groups – will be considered a legitimate target. The government, especially those departments related to security, is obviously being targeted by the Taliban too.
Previously, and usually, what has been curious about attacks like these is that responses of the Afghan government to such attacks implicate Pakistan. This ‘strategy’ of alienating Pakistan is ill-advised and does nothing to deter the attacks. The Taliban’s spring offensive was more successful than most believed was possible and they may soon be in a position to take over Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, and retake the northern city of Kunduz. Ghani must know by now that he cannot militarily defeat the Taliban and so should have been working more closely with the Quadrilateral Coordination Group to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table. But the path he seems to have chosen is to work on reconciliation with the help of the US and India only, a policy that is doomed for failure since neither country has ever had any way to act as a go-between between the Taliban and Afghan government. With devastating attacks in Afghanistan now so routine, the government should not shut itself off to any avenue for peace.https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/148362-Kabul-attacks
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