KABUL: In the wake of two deadly attacks in Afghanistan on Tuesday, the US has asked both the government, led by President Ashraf Ghani, and the Taliban to cooperate and bring those behind the killings to justice.
In his statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo highlighted the Taliban’s denial of its involvement in the attacks, and urged both groups to work together.
“The Taliban and the Afghan government should cooperate to bring the perpetrators to justice,” he said.
“As long as there is no sustained reduction in violence and insufficient progress toward a negotiated political settlement, Afghanistan will remain vulnerable to terrorism.”
Analyzing Pompeo’s statement, Abdul Satar Saadat, a former adviser to Ghani, told Arab News on Wednesday that the secretary of state had expressed Washington’s dissatisfaction with “Ghani’s announcing of the offensive against the Taliban.”
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There was an outpouring of sympathy and goodwill for those killed in the attacks on Tuesday, with one mother reportedly rushing to breastfeed several newborn babies after their mothers died in the medical facility that was targeted.
Saadat added: “The political message of this statement to President Ghani is that if you go to war with the Taliban, then you won’t have America’s support.”
The Taliban on Wednesday said it had the ability to withstand any attacks by the government. “The units of the Islamic Emirate (the Taliban) have strong preparations for any type of the enemies’ provocation and offensive and will defend the people from its trenches with decisiveness,” the Taliban said in a statement in response to Ghani’s address to the nation the previous night.
The Taliban added that by announcing the “offensive war against the Islamic Emirate,” Ghani wants to “continue his rule under the umbrella of war.”
The Taliban has denied responsibility for both attacks — one of which was on a maternity hospital in Dashte Barchi, a Shiite-dominated area of Kabul, which killed 24 civilians, including two infants.
The other saw the deaths of nearly 30 Afghans who were attending a funeral ceremony for a deceased government police commander in Nangarhar province, in the east of the country, when the procession was attacked.
On Tuesday night, Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack in Nangarhar, but not on the hospital in Kabul.
Despite the Taliban denial, Afghan First Vice President Amrullah Saleh said there is “evidence” to prove that the Taliban “were in a celebratory mood for massacring Shiites in a maternity hospital in Kabul.”
He tweeted: “They (the Taliban) double celebrate the naivete of some for accepting their lies and accusing the fictional IS-K (Islamic State of Khorasan, or Daesh).”
The attacks have drawn condemnation from several countries, including the US, which signed a historic deal with the Taliban in February, and has since been pushing Ghani’s government and the Taliban to exchange prisoners and move forward with dialogue. Instead, Ghani and the Taliban accuse each other of blocking the prisoner exchange program.
There was an outpouring of sympathy and goodwill for those killed in the attacks on Tuesday, with one mother reportedly rushing to breastfeed several newborn babies after their mothers died in the medical facility that was targeted.
In another instance, two families said they would adopt two of the infants should their next of kin lack the resources, while several people came forward in Nangarhar to donate blood for those injured in the attack.
