Horror in Kabul, where the Shiite Hazara minority is back in the crosshairs of an attack, and this time the victims were little more than children: at least 50 died and hundreds were injured in an attack on the entrance to a secondary school . A bomb exploded just as the girls left the classrooms. Most of the victims were actually students. There were also over 100 injured, many in a critical state. “Our children don’t deserve all this. No child deserves it, this is international terrorism, ”Afghan activist Wazhma Frogh denounced on Twitter. The school was a high school attended by boys and girls, who study in three different time slots, the second of which – explained Najiba Atrian, spokesman for the Reuters Ministry of Education – was that of girls.
It is not the first time that the Hazara minority has been hit: last October, in another school, there were 24 dead and 57 injured. A year ago, in the same neighborhood, a maternity hospital was also attacked: 16 people died, including two newborns, mothers and midwives. Although today’s attack has not yet been claimed, everything points to the jihadists of the Islamic State, who consider the Hazaras apostates. The Taliban, who distanced themselves in a statement, accused “the sinister circles that, on behalf of the Islamic State, operate under the wings and cover of the intelligence services of the Kabul administration”. But in a rebound of accusations, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani accused the Taliban of having “shown once again that not only are they unwilling to end the current crisis by peaceful means, but they are complicating the situation by sabotaging the opportunities for peace” .
The president spoke of “crime against humanity and Islamic principles” and said that the Taliban, even in the holy month of Ramadan, “mercilessly attack public places and girls’ schools”. And considering what happened, he ordered the security forces to “respond” forcefully. Moreover, the levels of violence in the country have already increased, especially in the last week, after the expiry of the May 1 date that the Taliban had agreed, in February of last year in Doha, with the United States for foreign troops to leave the country. ‘Afghanistan. The Biden administration has postponed the withdrawal date until next September 11, when two decades have passed since the jihadist attacks on the Twin Towers, which triggered shortly after the American invasion of Afghanistan that overthrew the Taliban. But in the last 24 hours alone, according to Kabul, at least 250 Taliban have died and 106 have been wounded in fighting with Afghan troops in nine of the country’s 34 provinces. Never have so many extremists died in just 24 hours in the last two years in Afghanistan: and this is proof of how the conflict in the country has intensified despite attempts to advance the long-stalled peace talks.