Islamic State in Afghanistan

The suicide bombing on July 23 killed 80 people and injured 230

The remarkable speed with which the Islamic State (IS) claimed the latest atrocity in Kabul is indicative of both its strength and confidence. The suicide bombing on July 23 (reports differ on whether there was one bomber or two) killed 80 people and injured 230. The attack was on a peaceful demonstration by Hazara people over the routing of an electricity line. They were claiming that the route the line was to take discriminated against them, depriving them of a much-needed development opportunity. President Ashraf Ghani has vowed to take ‘revenge’ against the culprits and the UN office in Kabul described the attack as ‘a war crime’. The country observed a national day of mourning on Sunday (July 24^th) and the Interior Ministry has banned all public gatherings for the next 10 days.

None of this, all the tears and condolences, the vows to avenge the attack — matters a hill of beans. The IS has been steadily putting on muscle in Afghanistan in the last year, and the attack was said to have originated in Achin district of Nangarhar province — which somewhat begs the question as to why, if the Afghan intelligence services were so sure of the origin did they not move to stave it off. This was the first time that the IS has struck at Kabul. The Taliban were as quick to deny the attack as the IS were to claim it, going so far as to claim that this was an ‘attempt to ignite a civil war’. The Hazara were on the receiving end when the Taliban were in power in Afghanistan and little has changed since they were deposed. A minority group making up around nine per cent of the population, they are the third-largest of the minorities and the most frequently attacked. The dispute over the power line at least on paper does look as if the Hazaras were cut out of the loop. The Afghan government says the re-routing was for reasons of speed and economy. The IS could not care less either way. The Hazara were a soft target, they hit it and we can expect more, a lot more, of the same.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2016.

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