Bombing In Kabul Mosque Kills At Least 10

Facts

• The Taliban said at least 10 people were killed and 30 were wounded after an explosion hit a mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul on Fri. Eyewitnesses feared that many more had died.¹
• Hundreds of worshippers had gathered for prayers on the last Fri. of Ramadan in a ceremony that a suicide bomber attended before detonating explosives.²
• IS on Sat. claimed responsibility for the bombing, adding that it had also detonated an explosive device placed near a bus in a separate area of Kabul.³
• The deadly attack targeted Sufi worshipers, which may also have added to growing pressure on Taliban officials to reach out to a wider mix of Afghans for advice and support as the threat of violence grows.⁴
• This follows a series of attacks targeting mosques, schools, and buses across the country that have killed at least 100 people in the past two weeks, as IS targets minorities in Afghanistan and aims to undermine the Taliban government.⁵

Sources: ¹CNN, ²Al Jazeera, ³Al Arabiya English, ⁴Washington Post and ⁵New York Times.

Narratives

• Republican narrative, as provided by FOX News. The current security situation in Afghanistan is a direct result of the Biden administration's decision to withdraw from the country. Ethnic and religious minorities are now being slaughtered by extremists because Biden thought it would be politically expedient to abandon allies.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by Vox. The US' disastrous invasion and occupation of the country, not Biden's withdrawal, are to blame for the current security crisis. The fact that Afghan security forces collapsed following the US withdrawal indicates that the security situation was simply unsustainable, making attacks like this one, unfortunately, inevitable.