WASHINGTON: The United States urged the Taliban on Saturday to shun violence and join the process as insurgent attacks kill 51 people in Kabul.

“We again call upon the Taliban, other Afghan militant groups, and anyone supporting them to bring an end to violence in Afghanistan,” said a US State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

This is the fourth such statement from a senior US official since last week when officials in Kabul announced that the Taliban leader Mullah Omar has died.

“The United States stands by the Afghan people and remains committed to assisting our Afghan partners in their efforts to achieve a stable, secure, and prosperous future,” Mr Toner said.

Observers in Washington had interpreted Kabul’s announcement as an effort to persuade a rudderless Taliban movement to give up militancy and work with the Afghan government.

But it led to the postponement of Pakistan-sponsored reconciliation talks in Murree, a power struggle within the Taliban and to the resumption of violent attacks in Afghanistan.

“We strongly condemn the series of insurgent attacks in Kabul yesterday (which) … demonstrate again the insurgency’s complete disregard for the lives of innocent Afghans,” Mr Toner said.

“Such actions have no justification. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families at this time.”

AFP adds from Kabul: Fifteen more fatalities were confirmed on Saturday from a barrage of bombings in Kabul, taking the toll to 51 in the deadliest day for the city in years as Afghanistan battles an escalating Taliban insurgency.

The explosions on Friday, which devastated buildings and overwhelmed hospitals with hundreds of casualties, were the first major militant assaults on Kabul since the announcement of Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s death. The attacks underscored the country’s volatile security situation amid a faltering peace process and the potency of the Taliban insurgency, despite it being riven by growing internal divisions.

In the first attack, a powerful truck bomb tore through the centre of Kabul just after midnight on Friday, killing 15 civilians and wounding 240 others.

Less than 24 hours later, 27 cadets and civilians were killed when a suicide bomber dressed in police uniform blew himself up at the entrance of Kabul Police Academy. Explosions and gunfire also erupted when Camp Integrity, a US special forces base in Kabul, came under attack late Friday, killing nine people, including a Nato service member.

The Taliban distanced themselves from the truck bombing which struck near a Kabul military base — as they usually do in attacks that result in mass civilian casualties.

But they claimed responsibility for both other attacks, which marked a serious breach of security at a premier training institute for Afghan forces and a foreign coalition facility.

“The Afghan people are resilient, but the suffering caused by (these attacks)

in terms of civilian deaths, injuries, and the loss of family members, is extreme, irreversible and unjustifiable,” the UN mission in Afghanistan said in a statement.

The carnage highlighted the risk of a bloodier insurgency under a new Taliban leadership as Afghan forces face their first summer fighting season without the full support of Nato, which ended its combat mission in December.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2015

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