Terror in Kabul

Twin suicide bombings at a peaceful protest by Hazaras in Kabul left more than 80 people dead and another 260 injured in what is one of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan this year. A third suicide bomber was killed by security forces before he could detonate his vest. The Islamic State, beginning to gain a foothold in Afghanistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack. This is not the first time that the Hazara population, targeted by militant groups for being from the Shia sect, has been targeted in Afghanistan. Just last year, Hazara protesters marched through Kabul carrying the coffins of seven members of their community who has been decapitated by militants. This most recent attack is one of a spate of such attacks in Kabul, following a suicide bombing on a bus transporting newly-graduated police officers three weeks ago and another suicide bombing last month on Nepali contractors working for the Canadian embassy. The difference, however, is that the Taliban claimed responsibility for the previous attack while the IS has taken credit for the attack on the Hazara community. Even though the IS had stated that it was gaining a foothold in countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan, its warnings were ignored since the Taliban were seen as the dominant and most obvious militant threat.

One reason the IS may be carrying out attacks in countries where it had a minimal presence before is that it is on the back foot in its Iraqi and Syrian bases. The US-led bombing attack on its bases, coupled with a ground offensive by the Syrian and Iraqi armies, has led to a significant loss of territory and is causing the IS to lash out in other countries so as to maintain its aura of invincibility. That it has chosen Afghanistan as one of the countries is particularly tragic since the Taliban there have been gaining strength too, to the point where the US has decided to slow down its planned drawdown of the 10,000 troops it has remaining in the country. The emergence of the IS as a force in Afghanistan also threatens peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Those talks had been on hold both because the Ashraf Ghani government has found it more convenient to scapegoat Pakistan for the increased violence in Afghanistan and because the Taliban recently launched their annual summer offensive. Should IS continue operating in Afghanistan, it would make peace an even more distant prospect.