Taliban makes good on vow to hit Afghan campaign
FAIZABAD, Afghanistan — Fearing Taliban threats, President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan has mostly campaigned for re-election via Skype, reaching voters outside Kabul through “virtual rallies.”
But on Tuesday, the president risked a 35-mile trip from the capital to neighboring Parwan province for a rally inside a police training compound. And there, just as the rally started, the Taliban made good on repeated vows to attack anything connected with the election, scheduled in less than two weeks.
A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew up as people waited to be ushered into the heavily guarded compound. At least 26 people were killed and 42 were wounded in the late-morning attack, the Ministry of Interior said. Ghani, who was inside the compound, at least a half-mile from the blast, was unhurt.
A second suicide bombing in Kabul just over an hour later killed at least 22 people and wounded 38, the Interior Ministry said.
Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for both attacks, punctuating their pledge to escalate violence against the U.S.backed government after President Donald Trump scrapped peace talks with the group just over a week ago.
Trump’s decision upended nearly a year of diplomacy that had verged on a deal with the Taliban to end the longest war in U.S. history, which began after the Taliban sheltered the plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Whether that diplomacy will be revived, and whether Trump will withdraw U.S. forces either way, remains unclear.
Ghani saw the collapse of talks as a victory because his government had been excluded. He also complained that the proposed deal lacked assurances of Taliban compliance once U.S. troops left.
There is widespread apprehension in Afghanistan that any abrupt U.S. departure could further embolden the Taliban and possibly hasten the group’s return to power.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the attacks on Tuesday had been meant to target Afghan security forces.
Mujahid said the Taliban had warned Afghans not to attend campaign rallies or other election events, calling them “military targets” because they are protected by security forces. If civilians are killed or wounded at such gatherings, he said, they are responsible for putting themselves in harm’s way.
“We carried out this attack while a fake election rally was ongoing,” Mujahid said in a WhatsApp message.
Ghani blamed the collapse of the peace talks on precisely the type of attacks undertaken by the Taliban on Tuesday.
“The Taliban are the main enemy of our republic system,” he said on his presidential Twitter account. “The Taliban once again have proved that they are not interested in peace and stability in Afghanistan.”
Ghani added that the election will proceed as scheduled Sept. 28.
The Kabul attack took place near the site of a suicide bomb blast on Sept. 5 that killed 12 people, including one U.S. and one Romanian soldier. Trump cited that attack as one reason he had decided to end the peace negotiations.
Most of the 26 dead in the Parwan attack were civilians, provincial health officials said.