dagblog - Comments for "(Huge) Kabul Bombing Kills at Least 80, Shaking City Center"

Afghanistan Blames Pakistan

artappraiser — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 07:45:03 +0000

In reply to (Huge) Kabul Bombing Kills at Least 80, Shaking City Center

Afghanistan Blames Pakistan for Planning Deadly Kabul Attack

Afghan intelligence services admit they knew an attack was coming, but blame the government next door for organizing it.

By Richi Kumar @ ForeignPolicy.com, June 1

[....] Just hours after the explosion, the NDS pointed to the Haqqani Network, an insurgent group in the Afghan-Pakistani borderlands that shares close ties with the Taliban, as the perpetrators. But Afghan intelligence lay ultimate blame with their Pakistani counterpart, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which it claimed had planned the blast. [....]

Afghan-Pakistani relations have become exceptionally strained in the past few years precisely because of Afghan suspicions about such support. Afghan leaders have repeatedly called for strikes by the international community — meaning the United States — on safe havens in Pakistan. And over the past year, Pakistan has forcibly repatriated 600,000 refugees back to Afghanistan. Frequent border skirmishes between the armed forces of each side have worsened the tensions.

The NDS minced no words in its statement. “These terrorists once again proved they don’t represent any religion and they only carry out such coward attacks to please their Pakistani masters which is against all Islamic and human rights principals [sic],” it read. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ran with the accusations against Pakistan in a blazing speech on Wednesday night. In a decree issued earlier Thursday, he ordered the hanging of 11 Haqqani Network and Taliban prisoners.

But the Taliban denies any connection to this week’s incident. “This explosion has nothing to do with the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate,” a statement on their website read. “Islamic Emirate condemns every explosion and attack carried out against civilians, or in which civilians are harmed and has no legitimate target,” they added. Pakistan has called the claims “baseless.”

The NDS is also in urgent need of a clear culprit after its failure to prevent the bombing. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a government official told Foreign Policy that the agency was aware the blast was coming. “We knew about a possible attack targeting the Wazir Akbar Khan area as far back as May 21,” the official revealed. Security around the area had been ramped up, with additional checkpoints set up in anticipation of the explosion. “But we weren’t expecting a truck bomb — we were looking for a Corolla or a similar car carrying explosives. We failed to identify the threat,” the source admitted.

While trucks, buses, and larger vehicles are prohibited in that area of Kabul, the explosives were loaded onto a septic tanker, believed to have been contracted privately by one of the diplomatic missions in the area. “Such a truck would also require a clearance document to be able to enter that area,” the official told Foreign Policy. “We are currently investigating if the insurgents used a fake clearance card, or if they managed to get access to an original from one of the embassies.”

While the Afghan government blames Pakistan, many Afghans are speculating about a different culprit — the Islamic State. The terrorist group moved heavily into Afghanistan last year, carrying out a series of lethal assaults in Kabul and elsewhere [....]

Apparently things can get

artappraiser — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 07:37:17 +0000

In reply to (Huge) Kabul Bombing Kills at Least 80, Shaking City Center

Apparently things can get worse in Kabul then they have been for decades and independence has not been all it was cracked up to be:

Kabul attack: Police shoot hundreds of protesters calling for better security in Afghanistan

Tensions are running high in Kabul following deadly attack which killed 90 and injured 400 in supposedly secure district of the capital earlier this week

By Bethan McKernan @ The Independent, June 2

[....] The demonstration, which began early on Friday, turned violent as it reached the gates of the Presidential Palace.

More than 1,000 people chanted slogans calling for the resignation of the government, as well as “death to the Taliban” and “death to Haqqani”, the wing of the insurgency believed by intelligence services to be responsible for Wednesday’s attack [....]

The security forces used riot gear and water cannons before firing live rounds into the air to try to dissuade the angry crowd from storming the grounds of the palace.

Kabul police chief General Hassan Shah Frogh said his officers were left with no choice when they realised some of the protesters were carrying weapons. They fired at police, wounding four officers, he said, although eyewitnesses contested his version of events, claiming protesters only threw stones.

Initial reports of the number of dead vary: the public health ministry said four had died, but one local hospital said at least six people had been killed.

Many in Afghanistan are losing patience with the weak and divided government of President Ashraf Ghani, which they say is not doing enough to protect the people from militant violence. [....]

“For God’s sake, what is happening to this country?,” Ghulam Sakhi, a shoemaker whose shop is close to the site of the blast, said to Reuters on Thursday.

“People leave home to fetch a loaf of bread for their children and later that evening, their dead body is sent back to the family.”

Extremist attacks by the Taliban and Isis targeting both civilians and the military around the country have increased since international troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 2014.

Hundreds have died in the violence. The Taliban are now in control of approximately 40 per cent of the country, although they hold no cities. [....]

More @ NYT, on one page: The

artappraiser — Wed, 31 May 2017 13:14:12 +0000

In reply to Some of the wounded arriving

More @ NYT, on one page: The Kabul Bombing: Wrenching Scenes of Carnage

one of those:

Caption: A wounded man at the site of a huge explosion in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on Wednesday. The blast caused panic in much of the city center and shattered windows a mile away. Credit: Omar Sobhani/Reuters

Some of the wounded arriving

artappraiser — Wed, 31 May 2017 12:57:19 +0000

In reply to (Huge) Kabul Bombing Kills at Least 80, Shaking City Center

Some of the wounded arriving at a hospital. The exact nature of the blast was not immediately clear. Credit: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters