The attack in Kabul on the 31st of May killed at least 90 people and left more than 400 injured – some in critical condition.
More than 1500kg of explosives were hidden inside a sewage tanker, which the suicide driver detonated at the Zanbaq square just outside the Green Zone: the target is unclear as there are several government and diplomatic offices nearby.
The German, Chinese and Indian embassies were damaged in the blast, which left several foreign officials injured, but no causalities among them. Instead, most the victims are Afghan citizens passing through and working around the heavily trafficked area.
So far, no grouped claimed the terrorist attack.
The Taliban’s spokesperson has denied responsibility. The government’s primary intelligence agency, the NDS released a statement putting the blame on the Pakistani intelligence and the Haqqani group, which have close ties. Pakistan rebuffed claiming that these kinds of allegations hurt the two countries’ relations and that they’re not to blame for Afghanistan’s deteriorating security situation.
Networks such as the Islamic State and the Taliban control at least 40% of the country’s territory, while the government still has all the provincial capitals in its hand, but is losing ground. President Trump will soon decide on sending a couple thousand more US soldiers into Afghanistan. The insurgents’ most valuable targets are foreign troops, so it’s unlikely that this will help the security situation, instead it could cause more provocation.
Reacting to the attack, Germany has suspended sending migrants and refugees back, under a deal, which was struck in December, but only for a few days. It remains unclear what consists as a “safe country” where refugees can be sent back to under Merkel’s policy. Clearly 90 Afghans dead in front of the embassy is not an issue for Germany.
The competition and sometimes cooperation between the Taliban and the Islamic State has proved to be fruitful in the past year against the government. This attack is one of the biggest so far, near the Green Zone and during Ramadan.
Afghanistan is slowly falling apart again, with insurgent groups gaining ground. After years and years, no doubt that NATO didn’t succeed in making the country safe.
But this unclaimed attack appears strange…
Does something new happen in Afghanistan?
Who benefits from the crime?
