Afghan bombs blow up Taliban peace claims: Return of explosions with accusations against ISIS

Mohamed Yosry

Despite the Taliban’s attempts since its takeover of Kabul to make it appear that security matters are under its control, especially after tightening its grip on the province of Panjshir, where violent clashes took place between the movement and the opposition led by Ahmad Masoud in which the Taliban won in the end.

Peace claims in Afghanistan

The Taliban is promoting in its media discourse directed to the international community that the country will become a safe homeland for all, whether for the Afghan citizens or foreign expatriates, which was confirmed by Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar during his meeting on Friday, October 1 with a group of international ambassadors and delegates at the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Baradar pointed out that the movement is looking forward and asking all countries of the world to open their embassies in Kabul in order to be in contact with the Taliban, stressing that it will provide a safe environment for that.

Multiple explosions

Despite these discourses promoted by the Taliban, there is a blackout by its media service on many of the terrorist operations that took place in Afghanistan, as if the country has not witnessed terrorist operations except what the capital’s airport in Kabul was exposed to after it fell into the movement’s hands, which resulted in the death and injury of dozens, including ten Americans, on August 26.

Just in the month of September, the country witnessed many bombings, the last of which was the bombing that targeted a crowd of civilians in front of the Al-Adija Mosque in Kabul on Sunday, October 3, which resulted in the killing of nine civilians and the injury of others.

This is the first attack that the Taliban has clearly announced since the beginning of September, despite the occurrence of many attacks against the movement’s elements, including the explosion of a device targeting two military vehicles belonging to the movement at the hands of ISIS in the Hofiyan area of Chaharikar, the capital of Parwan, on October 1. The operation resulted in the killing and wounding of more than ten Taliban members.

On September 18, a series of three car explosions targeted the Taliban in the capital of Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, and the explosions left at least three people dead and 20 wounded. While no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks in the city of Jalalabad and in Kabul, police officials reported that a sticky bomb exploded the same morning, injuring two other people. Local Tolo TV quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the explosion came from an improvised explosive device.

Bomb at wedding

On October 1, an improvised bomb exploded at a wedding party in the city of Aqcha in Jowzjan province in northern Afghanistan, killing the bride and a number of attendees and wounding others. Two people were also killed and others injured when a landmine exploded in a Taliban car on September 25 in Jalalabad.

ISIS is first suspect

Despite the numerous attacks in Afghanistan, the Taliban is still trying to appear to be in control of the country’s security in front of many blocs of its enemies, led by ISIS, which announced its existence as the Taliban’s main enemy on August 26 after it targeted the Kabul airport.

Fingers of accusation remain directed at ISIS in all the operations that have taken place in Afghanistan since the beginning of September, although the terrorist organization only carried out some of them, opening the door to the presence of other armed entities targeting Afghan civilians, the Taliban and its government alike at this sensitive stage in the country’s history.