This report was last updated on July 15 at 12:00 p.m.
ISLAMABAD — A series of attacks rocked Afghanistan Thursday, killing at least 58 people, including 38 members of Afghan security forces, as the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff met with Afghan officials.Taliban militants stormed security check posts in Takhar province while multiple bombs rocked capital Kabul and Jalalabad in Nangarhar province.Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed that the militants ran over two bases in Ishkamesh district, killing and capturing security personnel and seizing their weapons and vehicles.Two local provincial council members, Wafiullah Rahmani and Khalil Aseer, confirmed the Taliban attacks. Rahmani said the attacks killed members of civil and national police.A Ministry of Interior spokesman, Nasrat Rahimi, said a suicide bomber on a motorcycle targeted a minibus in Kabul carrying the staff of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum as they were on their way to work Thursday morning. The blast killed at least 11 people. A secondary explosion rocked the site of the first attack.Secondary explosions are common in Kabul and have in the past killed first responders and journalists covering the attack.
A boy walks past the wreckage of a bus following a suicide bombing in Kabul on July 25, 2019.A separate car bomb hit Jalalabad road in Kabul a few hours later. Local TV channels showed footage of relatives wailing outside local hospitals as they searched for their loved ones.The local branch of the Islamic State terror group took responsibility for the two attacks on the minibus.Meanwhile, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the third attack in Kabul in which they claim they targeted “foreign invaders.”An injured woman receives a treatment at the hospital, after a roadside bomb blast in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, July 25, 2019..
“Martyrdom seeker [Muhammad Kabuli] using VBIED [vehicle-borne improvised explosive device] struck convoy of foreign invaders in Spechari area of #Kabul city 9am this morning resulting in 2 SUVs destroyed & 9 senior foreign officers killed,” a Tweet from Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said.
Yet another blast in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, killed nine members, six women and three children, from the same family, according to Ataullah Khogyani, a spokesman for Nangarhar governor’s office.Gulzada Sangar, a spokesman for Nangarhar civilian hospital, said five other victims of the attack are in stable condition.U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass tweeted U.S. condemnation of the Kabul attacks.”The perpetrators demonstrated a heinous disregard for the sanctity of human life, democratic values & #Afghanistan’s future. The US stands with the people of Afghanistan in their aspiration for peace and a better future. #AfghanPeaceProcess,” he tweeted.The US condemns today’s multiple attacks in #Kabul. The victims are innocent #Afghans, including first responders, trying to make a better life for themselves & their families. 1/2— John R. Bass (@USAmbKabul) July 25, 2019 The perpetrators demonstrated a heinous disregard for the sanctity of human life, democratic values & #Afghanistan’s future. The US stands with the people of Afghanistan in their aspiration for peace and a better future. #AfghanPeaceProcess 2/2— John R. Bass (@USAmbKabul) July 25, 2019Zalmay Khalilzad in Kabul
As the violence rages in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, the man appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump to find a way to extricate the United States from Afghanistan, is in Kabul, discussing “where we are on the #AfghanPeaceProcess,” according to his tweets. He met senior Afghan leadership Wednesday, including President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, and Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani.FILE – Afghan delegates inside the conference hall included Lotfullah Najafizada (2nd-R), the head of Afghan TV channel Tolo News, in Doha, Qatar, July 7, 2019. U.S special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is seen center rear, with red tie. (A. Tanzeem/VOA)On Tuesday, as he arrived in Kabul, the Afghan government issued a strong press release demanding a “clarification” for President Trump’s words that “Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the earth if he wanted to win the war but he did not want to “kill 10 million people.”Both Khalilzad and Taliban’s political team based in Doha have been sending out positive indicators about their ongoing negotiations, now in its seventh round.Remaining issues
Both sides acknowledge that they have made progress on two issues: announcement of a timeline of withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, and promises by the Taliban that Afghan soil will not be used for terrorism against any other country.However, there seem to be differences on two more issues on the table: announcement of a comprehensive cease-fire and agreement by the Taliban to enter into direct negotiations with the Afghan government.
The United States has asked Pakistan to help use its influence with the Taliban to resolve these issues. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was on a three day trip to Washington and the White House this week, promised to help.Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump at the start of their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, July 22, 2019.”Now, when I go back, after meeting President Trump, and I have also spoken to President Ghani, now I will meet the Taliban and tell them to talk to the Afghan government. I believe the election in Afghanistan should be inclusive and Taliban must be included,” Khan said during a public talk at the United States Institute of Peace, a nonpartisan, U.S. government funded research organization.
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