Anger, sorrow grip Kabul after massive bombing
KABUL — Afghans joined in both anger and sorrow Thursday amid gutted buildings and piles of rubble in bomb-ravaged Kabul, as mourners buried the dead and officials grappled with questions over how to confront a seemingly unstoppable insurgent threat.
Wednesday’s truck bombing in the Afghan capital’s diplomatic zone — one of its most highly guarded areas — claimed at least 90 lives, injured another 460 people and decimated entire blocks in one of the bloodiest single attacks to hit Afghanistan in years.
Afghan Taliban insurgents denied any links to the explosion, which came during the first week in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. But Afghanistan also faces violence from other militant groups, including a branch of the Islamic State.
Crews with bulldozers and backhoes worked to clear away building debris and wrecked cars in a large area around the 15-foot-deep bomb crater, sealed off by hundreds of police.
Victims’ families began holding funerals and mourning ceremonies in mosques across the city. Relatives of those with severe injuries — including extreme blast burns — hovered worriedly around their hospital beds.
But the dominant mood of the capital was a mix of rage and recrimination.
At informal gatherings, on social media and in several small but intense public rallies, people denounced the government of President Ashraf Ghani for failing to prevent the ongoing violence and said the country’s future seemed increasingly bleak.
“Let us turn the silence of suffering into a national voice. We must all come together to stop terrorism from going any further and raise our voices against oppression,” a young man with a bullhorn exhorted protesters gathered at the perimeter of the blast site, surrounded by watchful riot police in flak jackets and helmets.
The Ghani government, distracted by internal conflicts, has struggled to fend off an aggressive push by Taliban insurgents in recent months, as well as a number of assaults claimed by the Islamic State.
There are 8,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan supporting the government’s war against the Taliban, and hundreds of U.S. special operations forces fighting Islamic State militants. But earlier this year, Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander here, said he needed several thousand more troops to break the stalemate.
In Washington, President Trump called Ghani Thursday to express his condolences to the Afghan people. No Americans or other foreigners died in the bombing, but nine Afghan guards outside the U.S. Embassy were killed, and 11 U.S. contractors were injured, the State Department said.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued a strong statement. “In the face of this senseless and cowardly act, the U.S commitment to Afghanistan is unwavering,” he said.
The Trump administration has not yet said whether it will increase the number of U.S. forces in the country, or what its overall policy will be toward the volatile region.