Wave of militant attacks pushes Afghanistan deeper into chaos
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The latest escalation in violence that has exacted dozens of civilian lives in Afghanistan has thrown the prospect of intra-Afghan talks into serious doubt. It's not that the war-ravaged country has not seen this scale of violence before, but the assault on a maternity home in Kabul this week that killed new mothers and babies was a heart wrenching one.
It may not be the first time that terrorists have targeted a hospital in Afghanistan but the sheer brutality of the killing has shocked and outraged people. That same day, hundreds of miles away in eastern Nangarhar province, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a funeral procession killing scores of mourners.
Both incidents left more than 50 people dead. The latest spike in violence sends a grim reminder of the country falling deeper into chaos with the Trump administration indicating that the planned drawing down of American forces from Afghanistan could be expedited.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the maternity clinic in the predominantly Shia neighborhood. But the assault has all the hallmarks of Daesh, which has increasingly gone after soft civilian targets.
Meanwhile, an affiliate group of Daesh has claimed responsibility for the funeral attack in Nangarhar province. The attacks have demonstrated Daesh's capacity to launch high profile attacks despite its recent military setbacks at the hands of American forces and the Taliban. The radical faction that originated in the Middle East managed to spread its tentacles in different parts of Afghanistan during the last few years and has targeted civilian populations and minority religious sects with impunity.
These bloody incidents have heightened fears that the militant group is trying to disrupt the nascent peace process in the war-torn country. Daesh has launched several spectacular terrorist attacks in Kabul since the US and Taliban signed a peace agreement early this year. The Taliban has denied it was behind last week’s attacks.
But coming after weeks of intensifying Taliban attacks, the Kabul government has blamed the group for the violence. Soon after the attacks, President Ashraf Ghani ordered Afghan security forces to abandon the “active defense” posture they had been in since the signing of the US-Taliban agreement and return to offensive attacks against the insurgents.
The latest surge in insurgent attacks and a renewed offensive by Afghan security forces has further diminished the hope of intra-Afghan talks on the future political setup following the withdrawal of American forces from the country starting soon.
Zahid Hussain
President Ghani has even ignored the US exhortation that the Kabul government and Taliban should jointly combat Daesh rather than fighting against each other. The Afghan president is furious over Taliban’s rejection of his repeated offers for a ceasefire so as to allow the Kabul government to focus on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the country.
Ongoing violence has made it all the more difficult for the administration to deal with the public health crisis. With 80 percent of the population living just barely above the poverty line, there is fear that the fighting and the pandemic could push many into starvation.
But the human crisis has not deterred the Taliban from attacking government officials and installations. Dozens of Afghan government soldiers are being killed every day in Taliban attacks across the country.
Two days after the hospital assault, insurgents killed a provincial police chief and two others in a roadside bomb attack. Meanwhile, a truck packed with explosives blew up near a military court in the eastern Afghan city of Gardez, killing at least five people. The Taliban accepted responsibility for the bombing.
The latest surge in insurgent attacks and a renewed offensive by Afghan security forces has further diminished the hope of intra-Afghan talks on the future political setup following the withdrawal of American forces from the country starting soon.
A major impediment in the talks between Afghan government and the Taliban is the row over prisoner exchange. The Taliban are insisting on the release of up to 5,000 of their prisoners before considering any other moves. So far, the Kabul government has released only 300 prisoners. The power struggle between president Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah who has set up a parallel administration has further complicated the situation.
Following the historic agreement signed with the Taliban earlier this year, the US has already started withdrawing some of its troops, raising hopes that the 18-year-long war is finally coming to an end. But the latest wave of militant attack indicates it will still take time before peace can return to the country.
- Zahid Hussain is an award-winning journalist and author. He is a former scholar at Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholar, USA, and a visiting fellow at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, and at the Stimson Center in Washington DC. He is author of Frontline Pakistan: The struggle with militant Islam (Columbia university press) and The Scorpion’s tail: The relentless rise of Islamic militants in Pakistan (Simon and Schuster, NY). Frontline Pakistan was the book of the year (2007) by the WSJ.
Twitter: @hidhussain
