More common than everEVEN for a country as inured to war as Afghanistan, the strike on a crowd of peaceful protesters in Kabul on July 23rd was shocking. Bombs killed 81 people, perhaps the deadliest such attack in the capital since the civil war two decades ago. Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility, saying it had sent two suicide-bombers to “a Shiite gathering” (the protesters were mainly Hazaras, a Shia minority). It hinted it would attack again should Afghan Shias keep travelling to Syria to fight on the side of its president, Bashar al-Assad.
The Afghan government said it thought IS was indeed guilty. The group published photos of two men they said were the bombers, and details of the attack bear IS’s hallmarks. But as with massacres in Europe, it seems likely that the culprits were inspired by IS’s propaganda rather than following direct orders. Though the exact number of self-styled IS fighters in Afghanistan is disputed, their ranks remain small and are not obviously growing. The group is opposed by the Taliban (which looks askance at its Arab origins). A cluster of fighters in Nangarhar, an eastern...Continue reading
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