Car bomb kills at least 8, injures 47 in Afghanistan

AFGHANISTAN: A powerful car bomb killed at least eight people and injured 47 in Afghanistan’s western Herat province, government officials said on Saturday.

A spokesman for the provincial hospital Rafiq Sherzai said the death toll in the explosion, late on Friday, is expected to rise because several of the injured were critical.

Interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian informed one among the dead and 11 of the injured were Afghan security forces personnel while the others were civilians, including children and women.

On the other hand, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for many of the targeted killings while the government and the Taliban have blamed each other for trying to sabotage efforts to reach a peace agreement.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council at a press briefing in New York condemned an alarming amplify in attacks in Afghanistan targeting civilians even as the Taliban and the Afghan government hold on-again-off-again talks in Qatar.

UN Security Council in a statement said, “These atrocious attacks have targeted civil servants, the judiciary, the media, health care and humanitarian workers, including women infamous positions, those who defend and promote human rights, and ethnic and religious minorities.”

The UN Security Council also called for “full, equal and meaningful participation of women” and a quick move towards a reduction in violence.

The slow pace of talks and the rising aggression has provoked the United States to cobble together a peace proposal, which was delivered last weekend.

Parties mutually are expected to appraise and revise the eight-page plan ahead of a far-reaching meeting the US has planned to be held in Turkey within weeks when Washington hopes to see an agreement.

The US meanwhile is reviewing a peace deal the Trump administration signed with the Taliban, which calls for the final withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 US troops from Afghanistan by May 1.

It is worth mentioning here that the United States special envoy to Afghanistan met with the Taliban on March 7,  in Qatar as efforts intensify to revive a peace process faced with mounting violence and a US troop withdrawal deadline.

The envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, held talks earlier this week with Afghan leaders in Kabul, including President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, chair of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation which oversees the government’s talks with the insurgents in Qatar. 

Taliban spokesman Muhamad Naeem tweeted that Khalilzad and the top US general in Afghanistan met with the insurgents’ negotiating team in Doha, including Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, late Friday.

“Both sides expressed their commitment to the Doha agreement and discussed its full implementation. Likewise, the current situation of Afghanistan and the rapidity and effectiveness of the Intra-Afghan negotiations were discussed,” he wrote.

Speculation is rife over America’s future in Afghanistan after the White House announced plans to review a withdrawal deal brokered by Khalilzad and the Taliban in Doha last year.

Under that agreement, the US is set to withdraw from Afghanistan in May, but a surge in fighting has sparked concerns that a speedy exit may unleash greater chaos as peace talks between the Kabul government and Taliban continue to stall.