MAJOR PLAYERS SHAPING COUNTRY’S FUTURE
Saturday night’s devastating attack on a wedding in Afghanistan’s capital comes amid huge uncertainty about the country’s future. The United States and the Taliban say they are nearing a deal to end America’s longest conflict. The US-Taliban talks have sidelined the government in Kabul, which is increasingly frustrated.
Here is a look at the major players in the country:
United States
It has been nearly 18 years since the US invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to topple the Taliban-led government that harboured Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden, and now President Donald Trump is eager to bring the troops home. More than 2,400 US service personnel have died. The military says some 14,000 troops remain in the country after a presence that spiked to roughly 100,000 under President Barack Obama. Their combat mission formally ended in 2014 but they continue to train the Afghan military and conduct strikes on Daesh and the Taliban.
The Taliban
The extremist group ruled Afghanistan for five years, imposing their harsh interpretation of Islamic law before the US-led invasion, and many worry it might return in some form under an agreement with the US. The Taliban now control roughly half of Afghanistan and are at their strongest since their 2001 defeat. Their attacks have become so frequent and deadly that the Afghan and US governments now keep military casualty figures confidential. The Taliban refuse to negotiate with the Afghan government, calling it a puppet of the US.
Afghan government
President Ashraf Gani is openly frustrated at his government’s exclusion from the US-Taliban talks, and he insists that next month’s presidential election in which he seeks a second term is crucial for giving the government a strong mandate to deal with the Taliban in intra-Afghan talks that are expected to follow a US deal.
Daesh affiliate
Many suspect the local Daesh affiliate of carrying out Saturday’s bombing in a Shiite area of Kabul, as its brutal suicide bombings have killed hundreds of the Shiite minority Hazaras in the capital and elsewhere. The extremist group, which appeared in Afghanistan shortly after Daesh swept across Syria and Iraq in 2014, is committed to overthrowing the Afghan government.