The motive behind Jalalabad explosion

The explosion in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Saturday was devastating; it killed many people, maimed and injured a lot of others and also damaged property. In all, the suicide bombing killed more than 35 people, most of them civilians, at a bank and injured around 125. Even from Afghanistan’s perspective, facing a civil war for the last 40 years or so, the senseless bombing was colossal and senseless.
Promptly, the responsibility for the incident was claimed by the Islamic State. But whatever the merits of IS claims about the bombing, it would be imprudent to ignore some glaring aspects of the tragic incident.
There is little doubt the bombing was an effort to hurt the growing brotherly relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which have seen many ups and downs in recent years. It was carried out to hurt the war both the countries are fighting jointly against terrorism in the region.
One may ask wasn’t one objective of the deadly bombing was to make sure that the media in Afghanistan downgrades the historical speech of the Afghan army chief at Kakul, Abbottabad, with the Jalalabad incident taking the lead? Then, the incident occurred at Jalalabad, which is not far off from the Pakistan border. This also cannot be ignored as the city maintains a small but significant presence of anti-Pakistan elements at the Indian consulate.
Moreover, the timing was also symbolic. Just as the event in Kakul was in progress, the suicide bomber targeted the crowd. Not to be ignored is the fact that an unknown group, Wilayat Khorasan, claiming to be an IS affiliate in Pakistan and Afghanistan, took responsibility for the bombing. Why did the group chose to appear in Jalalabad on the day when the Afghan army chief was delivering an important speech at the Pakistan Military Academy?
The Afghan military chief, General Karimi, rightly asserted at Kakul that Afghanistan and Pakistan must not let the historic opportunity to defeat the non-state actors involved in the killing and maiming of innocent civilians slip from their hands. “Our region has suffered from nearly four decades of war and conflict but I believe that peace in this region, and most importantly for all us assembled here, in Afghanistan and Pakistan is imminently attainable,” he said at the parade. “The ongoing strategic dialogue between our two countries gives me great hope and we all need to re-double our earnest, sincere efforts so that we help realize the noble and rightful aspiration of millions of our citizens for a life of peace, security, dignity and prosperity,” he was quoted as saying.
Thus one does not have to look far for those who carried out the attack; a crude ‘RAW scheme’ can be easily identified by those who choose to dissect the incident. Nevertheless, the incident should not have an impact on the high-level political, military and economic exchanges betw-
een the two countries that
now mark the brotherly relationship between the two countries.