If ever President Ashraf Gani needs a reminder that his government has much work to do on stabilising the security situation, then yesterday morning’s deadly car bombing on the outskirts of Kabul serves as a sad and timely warning. No one group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack that occurred in a mainly Shiite Hazara neighbourhood, and initial reports put the death toll at 24 and another 42 wounded. The car bomb was detonated to inflict a maximum number of deaths and destruction as a bus carrying employees of the government’s mining department was passing by. The explosion also occurred close to the home of prominent politician Mohammad Mohaqeq’s home. A spokesman for the former warlord said the bomb went off as the driver was approaching a checkpoint near the residence.
There seems little doubt that the Taliban are to blame for this outrage, and the group has been making territorial gains in districts close to the city. These murderous and malevolent mullahs are intent on undoing the work of the Afghan government, the international community and a host of aid agencies and humanitarian partners. The Taliban have but one goal — returning their homeland to a near-medieval state, where education is for males only, where women are virtual vassals and where their misguided and twisted version of Islamic puritanism serves their cause alone.
The statistics of the dead and injured across Afghanistan for the first six months of 2017 make for sad reading, with more than 1,600 civilians killed in violent acts across the troubled nation. The message is loud and clear for Gani: He needs to do more to bring peace and stability — and may need more help from the international community to do so.
