Attack at university in Kabul shatters a sense of freedom

School home to many promising young Afghanis.

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — As cafes, restaurants, and performance centers in Kabul came under attack one after another in recent years, the campus of the American University of Afghanistan remained a rare oasis for some of the country’s brightest young men and women.

Beyond providing a quality education, the school offered a glimpse of a carefree life away from the unpredictable violence that afflicted the rest of the capital.

Behind layers of security, students could join a basketball game at the gym, compete in debate tournaments or just have an uninterrupted conversation over coffee.

That sense of freedom, too, was violated Wednesday night.

Men with Kalashnikov rifles and grenades first gunned down a guard at the adjoining school for the blind.

One drove a car packed with explosives into the American University’s walls, blowing a gap through them. Two more militants dashed onto campus, where hundreds of students were taking evening classes. The attackers methodically stalked the men and women trapped inside, fighting off the Afghan security forces for nearly 10 hours in a terrifying overnight siege.

On Thursday morning, at least 13 lay dead: seven students, three police officers, two university guards and the night guard at the school for the blind.

Abdul Baseer Mujahid, a spokesman for the Kabul police, said more than 30 others were hurt in the attack; another estimate, from the Health Ministry, said 16 had been killed and 53 wounded.

The attack was a blow to young Afghans who had chosen to defy the migrant exodus from the country and instead pursue their dreams in the difficult circumstances at home.

From its start in 2006, the American University was a draw for the sons and daughters of prominent Afghan families.

But many students of more humble backgrounds had won scholarships, and they were counted among the school’s most promising.

President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack as a barbaric act of enmity against progress. Out of safety concerns, the university remained closed.

All three of the attackers were killed, their affiliation still unannounced by Thursday evening.

But another statement from Ghani’s office suggested that suspicion had fallen on the Haqqani wing of the Taliban, or some other Pakistan-based faction.

Ghani called the Pakistani army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, and “asked for serious and practical measures against the terrorists organizing the attack,” the statement said.