Afghan blasts
Around a dozen bomb blasts have taken place in Afghan cities since August last year. The latest explosion occurred at a Sunni mosque in Kabul this Friday in which more than 50 worshippers were reported dead. On previous Friday, a bomb blast at another Sunni mosque in Kabul killed 33 and wounded many others. A day earlier, a bus carrying Shias was targeted in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif in which 12 people were killed and several others wounded. Before this, several bomb explosions rocked Shia neighbourhoods in Kabul, killing many. In October, a bomb blast in a Shia mosque in Kunduz during Friday prayers killed 55 worshippers and wounded many others. The April 29 blast, meanwhile, occurred soon after Friday prayers when Sufis were preparing for the ritual of zikr. So far no one has claimed responsibility for this blast. Daesh had accepted responsibility for the April 22 bomb explosion and for another in a Shia mosque in Kunduz.
The ever-growing frequency in the incidents of violence points towards a serious administrative and security collapse in Afghanistan. Such deadly bomb explosions in the strategically-located country is a clear evidence that the old Great Game is still being played there; and it is the innocent Afghan citizens that are suffering the most as a result. It is time the Taliban government took appropriate security measures to bring bloodshed in the country to an end. Kabul needs to focus on both internal and external aspects of the issues affecting it. While, unfortunately, a cash-strapped government is not in a position to tackle a serious economic crisis in the country, it has no other option but to utilise whatever resources it has at its disposal to strengthen its security apparatus. Besides, the government should also promote national harmony with special focus on the Islamic values of tolerance. This is not difficult in a country where different communities have lived in harmony for centuries.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2022.
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