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Numerous mortar shells hit residential areas in the Afghan capital, Kabul, that morning. At least eight people died. It is not yet clear who is behind the attacks.
According to the authorities, at least eight people were killed in rocket attacks on the Afghan capital, Kabul. More than 30 people were injured, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said.
According to this, around 20 projectiles hit mainly residential areas in the center and north of the city. According to eyewitnesses, several messages set off the alarm in the heavily secured Green Zone in the heart of Kabul. State broadcaster RTA released photos of a burned-out pickup truck from which grenades were said to have been fired.
“I was having breakfast when the rockets hit”
“I was having breakfast when the rockets hit. A bakery vehicle was hit and at least three people were injured, which we then took to hospital,” said local resident Abdul Qadir.
The main target of the attack was apparently Sedarat Square, where the official residence of Vice President Amrullah Saleh is located. He had survived a car bomb attack in early September with minor injuries.
The Taliban deny their involvement
So far, no one has confessed to the attacks. The Islamist Taliban denied responsibility for the attack. A similar attack had already taken place in August. Several people were injured and died when more than a dozen rockets hit Kabul. At that time the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS) claimed the attack for itself.
Afghanistan has not settled in years. Despite an agreement with the United States on the early withdrawal of American soldiers and peace negotiations with the Afghan government, the radical Islamic Taliban have recently expanded their attacks. IS also carries out attacks regularly.
Pompeo wants to speak with Taliban representatives in Qatar
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced before the Kabul explosions that he would speak with representatives of the Taliban on a visit to Qatar. The United States signed an agreement with the Taliban in late February that provides for a gradual withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan.
In return, the Taliban pledged, among other things, to hold peace talks with the Afghan government. Both sides have been conducting peace negotiations in Abu Dhabi since September. Conversations are difficult.
The current president of the United States, Donald Trump, recently announced that he would accelerate the withdrawal of troops. As of mid-January, there are said to be only 2,500 US troops in the country. It was an electoral promise from Trump to end America’s “never-ending wars.” Experts warn of a hasty withdrawal from the country that could play the game of the Taliban.
Minister warns of a hasty withdrawal
Afghan State Minister for Human Rights Sima Samar also warned against a hasty withdrawal of foreign troops from her country. The withdrawal of the United States and other NATO troops must be done carefully, Samar said in a videoconference at the Villigst Evangelical Academy in Schwerte in North Rhine-Westphalia.
During the intra-Afghan peace negotiations, the Afghan security forces should be supported, “otherwise a vacuum will arise,” Samar stressed.
“Very aggressive conflict”
“We still have a very aggressive conflict, we still do not have a lasting peace,” said the 63-year-old doctor and politician, who for a long time was the director of her country’s independent human rights organization and received the 2012 Alternative Nobel Prize.
Samar named a ceasefire, the fight against corruption and an end to impunity as central points of a peace agreement with the Taliban. If there is no good government, the Taliban favor it: “We need the rule of law rather than the rule of arms.”
With information from Bernd Musch-Borowska, ARD-Studio New Delhi, currently. in hamburg
