A series of unfortunate bombings and suicide attacks shook the entire region of Afghanistan in the past few weeks, killing at least 65 people and injuring numerous others in Kabul. It has been termed as the deadliest phase in Kabul so far this year, with the third attack in the Qasaba neighbourhood. It is believed that the three attacks have primarily attempted to target Camp Integrity base and coalition soldiers of the American military stationed in Afghanistan. The magnitude of the attacks was nonetheless huge, resulting in injuries on the civilian population with startling statistics.
On account of maintaining anonymity, a Kabul police official has cited the responsibility of four suicide attackers who set off explosives in an attempt to enter the Kabul Police Academy, thereby killing around 25 people in that incident itself. A massive truck bomb driven by a suicide attacker has been reported to blow up the center of Kabul, further resulting in injuries on civilians. The truck bombing occurred in the vicinity of the area marked by the presence of several bases used by Afghan and international forces.
The attacks have been noted to be of its first kind since reports of the death of Afghan insurgent groups’ leaders have surfaced the country. While these bombings have been viewed as a symbolic message to reinstate the capability of the Taliban insurgent groups to launch attacks of such intensity, others have feared the declining possibility of peace resolution.
Affecting the image of the New Taliban
The demise of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has fueled a subsequent leadership dispute, according to many sources. The prospects of peaceful negotiation is therefore affected severely, with the internal tussle between Taliban factions and the opposition to Mansour’s leadership, indicative of any further waves of violence.
While the actual perpetrators of such devastating attacks are still under investigation, some believe that the incidents have been carefully organized by foreign forces to tarnish ‘the image of the new Taliban leader or for some other malicious objective’. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid reinstates this opinion, making specific reference to the attacks being ‘aimless’, amidst locals’ homes as a deliberate attempt to attack civilians through a ‘targeted air or missile attack’ to such an extent that the deployment of the bomb resulted in creation of a huge crater in the ground. While he declines the involvement of Taliban in this ‘suspicious blast’ that inflicted damages on civilians, he indicated their continued attempt in unfurling the truth behind the attacks.
Afghan Officials and the threat to Peace resolutions
A different version of the incident is cited by the Afghan Intelligence – National Directorate of Security (NDS) which, in its official statement hinted the presence of specific elements within the Pakistan Army responsible behind the deadly attacks in Kabul. The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani claimed in one of his statements that the ‘organisers of terrorist attacks and terrorist centres still exist in Pakistan’. By announcing the potential of Pakistan to remain as a breeding ground for ammunition and messages of war, the possibilities of peaceful regional resolutions have been disturbed, making the prospect of mutual action with regard to war crimes and terrorist attacks a distant reality among the people of Afghanistan. Political leaders representing both Afghanistan and Pakistan, including Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have however re-initiated the process of peaceful resolution, more specifically the need to begin the second rounds of talks at the earliest, based on the firm belief that ‘peace in Pakistan is impossible to be envisaged without peace in Afghanistan’ and vice versa.
In the past, attacks initiated by the Taliban have been perceived by people in Kabul as means employed by insurgent groups in seeking to destablise the ‘fragile government of President Ashraf Ghani’. However the recent attacks have touched an unprecedented scale of violence, brutality, and harm on the civilian population.
Civilians and the desire for peace
“The Taliban kill poor and innocent people. My brother and I, we’re just construction workers. We never bothered anyone.” – says Esmatullah at the Emergency Hospital in Afghanistan where many individuals were taken to, in the light of their injuries caused by the attack. While many victims blamed the insurgent group for the aforementioned calamity, it is certain that the scale of destruction is likely to fail in determining the total number of casualties.
Affecting dozens of homes and nearby shops, many people rushed to the site of the attack, searching for their relatives and close acquaintances, believing that they were within the debris and unrecognizable bodies found at the location of bombing. “The air was full of dust and I could hear people screaming under the rubble,” said Abdul Rahim, 22, to ABC.net, blaming “Pakistan, maybe Iran” for the violence. Anger over the routinized violence is evident among the victims and families in Kabul, who believe that Pakistan is significantly responsible for harbouring Taliban leadership and directing their massive attacks to Afghanistan.
In a condition wherein innocent men, women and children are attacked, where residential colonies feel unsafe, where the disheartened youth increasingly decide to move out of their country in the interest of safety and security in future, peaceful resolutions are a challenge. The prospect for peace is not only applicable at the level of deliberation between representatives of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but inherent in the core composition of the insurgent group as well which is grappling with power dynamics of a different manifestation.
Mariam Safi, Executive Director of DROPs, specializing in policy research and development studies in Afghanistan reinforces the faith in promotion of regional cooperation against terrorism despite the recent spate of violence. However the larger call to a peaceful future for the country of Afghanistan is met with a dismal scenario at present, in the light of recent events. The desire for a promising tomorrow is therefore negotiated between a complex, integrated web of many individuals and groups, who, in the light of attending to their respective wants, must consider peace as a collective want. As Ms. Safi rightly points out – “They will not find any solution in war. Only if they talk will they find peace.”
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