Three people were injured Wednesday morning August 4 in Kabul in a mine explosion, the day after a deadly suicide attack near the home of the Minister of Defense claimed by the Taliban.
Read also: In Afghanistan, nothing can stop the advance of the Taliban
"
Last night (Tuesday), a suicide attack was carried out on the residence of the Minister of Defense (...) by a group of Mujahedin armed with light and heavy weapons
," Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson, said in a statement. spokesperson for the Taliban.
This attack is "
the start of retaliation
" to come against government officials, he added.
This is the first attack in Kabul of such magnitude claimed by the Taliban in months.
The agreement signed in February 2020 in Doha with Washington, providing for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan, prevented them, at least on paper, from carrying out attacks in major Afghan cities.
Two large explosions, however, rocked Kabul Tuesday evening, two hours apart.
Eight civilians were killed and around 20 wounded, according to an updated report from the Interior Ministry on Wednesday morning.
Assaults all over the country
A car bomb driven by a suicide bomber first exploded in front of the house of a deputy, next to that of the Minister of Defense, General Bismillah Mohammadi, unharmed.
Several assailants then managed to enter the MP's home, several security sources told AFP.
The security forces took about five hours to break the resistance of the attackers, all of whom were killed, one in the explosion of the vehicle and the other three in the exchange of gunfire, according to the Interior Ministry. .
Occurring very close to the green zone, an ultra-fortified enclosure housing the presidential palace and embassies in particular, it once again illustrates the difficulties facing the government, which is faltering in the face of coordinated attacks by the Taliban throughout the country.
Counterattack of the Afghan army in the south of the country
In Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, an insurgent stronghold where some of the fiercest fighting has taken place in 20 years of international intervention, residents were looking to flee on Wednesday, as instructed by the army.
“
Families who can afford or have a car have left their homes.
But families who cannot afford it, like us, must stay at home.
We don't know where to go or how,
”said Halim Karimi, a resident of Lashkar Gah.
“
There is no way to escape the area because the fighting is ongoing.
There is no guarantee that we will not be killed on the way.
The government and the Taliban are destroying us
, ”said Saleh Mohammad, another resident.
Civilians, trapped in the fighting, have already paid a heavy price for the conflict in Lashkar Gah, a city of 200,000 inhabitants.
At least 40 civilians have been killed and 118 injured in the past 24 hours, the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (Unama) announced on Tuesday.
In an audio message that he asked the media to broadcast, General Sami Sadat, the highest ranking army officer in southern Afghanistan, called on residents on Tuesday to evacuate the city in anticipation of a major counterattack.
“
We ask you to leave your homes as soon as possible.
We will face (the insurgents) and fight them hard,
”he said, promising not to leave“
a single Taliban alive
”.
The concern of a return to power of the Taliban
The Taliban have captured Afghanistan's vast rural areas and key border crossings over the past three months in a blitz offensive amid the withdrawal of international forces, which is due to be fully completed by August 31.
Read also: Afghanistan: at least four dead in a kamikaze attack in Kabul
After encountering weak resistance in the countryside, for several days they have turned their attention to the large urban centers, encircling several provincial capitals.
These towns remain controlled by the army, but the fall of one of them would have a devastating psychological effect on the authorities.
The Taliban has also been fighting for several days against government forces on the outskirts of Kandahar (south) and Herat (west), the second and third largest city in Afghanistan.
The authorities of the province of Herat, however, said on Tuesday that the Afghan forces had recaptured several areas of the suburbs of the provincial capital from the Taliban, who had reached the gates of the city in recent days. Monday evening in Herat and Tuesday evening in Kabul, Afghans went up on the roofs or took to the streets to express, to the cries of "
Allah Akbar
" (God is the greatest), their support for the army and their hatred of the Taliban.
The specter of a return to power of the Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and the end of 2001 by imposing an ultra-rigorous Islamic regime, before being driven out by an international coalition led by the United States because of their refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden, in the wake of the September 11 attacks, worries many Afghans, who have taken a liking to the freedom acquired since then.
