At least Seven Killed In Northern Afghanistan Roadside Blast

Facts

• According to local officials, a bus bombing on Tuesday killed at least seven people in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Afghanistan’s Northern Balkh province.
• A provincial police spokesman said the bomb was placed "in a cart by the roadside" near the city's Sayed Abad Square and detonated when a bus arrived, killing seven employees of a local oil company and injuring six.
• Afghanistan's Balkh province contains one of the country's main dry ports at the town of Hairatan, which is located on the Amu Darya River and near the border with Uzbekistan. Hairatan maintains vital rail and road links to Central Asia.
• While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) - the local offshoot of the Islamic State (IS) group and a Taliban rival - has stepped up its attacks since the Taliban retook power in 2021.
• Last month, at least 19 people were reportedly killed and 24 others injured in a blast at an Islamic religious school in the city of Aybak, north of Kabul. In the Afghan capital, a suicide attack in September left about 54 students dead.
• Tuesday's Mazar-i-Sharif blast followed a suicide bombing last week that killed one individual and several attackers near the Kabul office of former Afghan PM Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami party. On the same day, an apparent failed assassination attempt targeted the Pakistani ambassador to Kabul.

Sources: Al Jazeera, Arab, Euro, Abc, Ndtv, and Reuters.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Diplomat. The latest devastating bombing reminds the world that, despite claims to the contrary, the Taliban are incapable of providing security for the Afghan people. On the contrary, the ISPK's terror campaign is rampant, and the IS offshoot is busy infiltrating Central, South, and West Asia. By continuing to suppress Afghan ethnic and religious minorities, the Taliban regime is playing into the hands of the ISKP, contributing to the surge of local terror.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Washington Post. That Afghanistan would descend into chaos under the repressive Taliban regime, thus also preparing the ground for ISKP terror, was predictable prior to the disgraceful US withdrawal from the Hindukush country. Hence, there were justified calls that Washington, with NATO support, should have left some troops in the country. To prevent at least the worst humanitarian hardships for Afghans, Washington must not turn its back on the country now.