Afghan Taliban claims responsibility for massive Kabul blast

An Afghan woman sits next to a wounded child after receiving treatment at Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital after a powerful truck bomb attack in Kabul on Jan. 15, 2019. (AFP)

• Officials vow to reciprocate against attempt to “sabotage peace process”
• Follows a series of meetings to end decades-old conflict in the country

KABUL: The Taliban on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a major truck bomb attack which killed a group of people and wounded more than 100 others in the Afghan capital overnight.
Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, warned that the perpetrators will be brought to book and called the raid as an attempt at “sabotaging the peace process”.
He made the comments following a series of meetings with authorities of several countries, including Saudi Arabia, to discuss progress in the peace talks which the US began with the Taliban a few months ago to resolve a 17-year-old conflict plaguing the country.
“While we are endeavoring for peace and stability as well as forming a regional consensus, the enemy is using any means for sabotaging the peace process,” he said in a statement.
“I vow that we will not be silent against this crime of theirs. We will investigate and shall take avenge too,” he added.
According to the Interior Ministry, four people, three of them police, lost their lives in the attack which took place in the “Green Village” where a series of compounds run by foreign security firms are located. More than 110 people, many of them civilians, were wounded in the attack, officials said.
The Taliban released a statement saying that the target of their attack was a US intelligence base. The “Green Village” lies near residential areas and the Taliban’s last attack took place there a few months ago.
Despite holding talks with US diplomats in recent months, the militants have also stepped up their attacks, inflicting heavy losses among Afghan troops in recent months.
The Afghan government, which is secluded from the meetings due to conditions set by the Taliban, has also increased its operations with the backing of US-led troops.
The insurgents have lost fighters in the battle too, while civilians have fallen victims to both sides of the turf war. Meanwhile, the government has replaced the interior and defense ministers with two of its staunchest anti-Taliban figures last month.
“Through the attack last night, the Taliban want to show that they will not bow down to the military pressure,” Waheed Mozhdah, an analyst, told Arab News.
Separately, based on the Afghan government’s repeated requests, Pakistan detained a few family members of the Taliban representatives recently, Mozhdah said.
Kabul has demanded that Pakistan puts pressure on the militants operating on its soil in order to be privy to peace talks with it. One latest reported arrest includes Hafiz Mohibullah, a former Taliban minister. 
The government’s spokesmen said they are not aware of his arrest while the Taliban’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, rejected the reports.
“The arrests have been going on for some time and even include women and children of some of the Taliban members. Let us see what happens with the arrest. Will Kabul be satisfied with them and will the Taliban give in to it? Only time can tell this,” Mozhdah said.
He added that Pakistan had forced Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar to visit Qatar in order to begin separate talks with US officials and members of the Kabul government.
Baradar, a former deputy to Taliban’s late supreme leader, was arrested by Pakistan and jailed years several years ago. Pakistan released him recently based on Washington’s request.