32 killed in attack on Kabul rally

KABUL/WASHINGTON: At least 32 people were killed in an attack on a political rally in Kabul in the deadliest assault in Afghanistan since the US signed a withdrawal deal with the Taliban.

The attack highlights the glaring lack of security in the heavily fortified Afghan capital 14 months ahead of a scheduled withdrawal of all foreign forces under an agreement signed on 29 February by the US and Taliban. Interior ministry spokesman, Nusrat Rahimi, said children were among the dead and a further 30 people were wounded, adding that “special forces units are carrying out clearance operations against the attackers”.

“The figures will change,” he said. Nizamuddin Jalil, a health ministry official, gave a slightly higher toll, saying 29 people had been killed and 30 others wounded. The Taliban immediately denied responsibility for the assault, which occurred at the commemoration ceremony for Abdul Ali Mazari – a politician from the Hazara ethnic group.

The attack was claimed by the ISIL (ISIS) group. At least 11 people died in a mortar attack on the same ceremony last year for which an Islamic State group claimed responsibility.

Photographs on social media showed several dead bodies being collected after the attack.

A spokesman for US Forces-Afghanistan said the response to Friday's attack was "Afghan-led", but US personnel provided medical assistance to the victims.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted that despite the attack, violence in Afghanistan was still "significantly down".

"The violence levels, they're still lower than they have been in the last five or six years," Pompeo told CNBC news.

"We see the path forward towards a peace and reconciliation opportunity."

President Ashraf Ghani condemned the massacre, calling it a “crime against humanity”.

The ceremony was attended by many of the country’s political elite, including Afghanistan’s chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah. The interior ministry later confirmed to reporters that “all the high-ranking officials were safely evacuated from the scene”.

“We left the ceremony following the gunfire, and a number of people were wounded, but I do not have any reports of martyred people for now,” the Hazara leader Mohammad Mohaqiq told Tolo News.

"The attack started with a boom, apparently a rocket landed in the area, Abdullah and some other politicians ... escaped the attack unhurt," Fraidoon Kwazoon, Abdullah's spokesman, said.

Broadcaster Tolo News showed live footage of people running for cover as gunfire was heard.

The standoff between the Afghan security forces and the attackers lasted for nearly six hours.

The difficulty in quelling the attack really underlines that the Afghan security forces will be left in a fragile situation after the foreign troop withdrawal.

Dozens of relatives gathered at the morgue of a hospital not far from the blast site, with many breaking down in tears as they waited to identify their loved ones.

Ambulances and stretchers bustled between the scene of the attack and the hospital to deliver the wounded for treatment.

"I was at the ceremony when gunshots started. I rushed towards the door to get out of the area but suddenly my foot was hit by a bullet," Mukhtar Jan told an international wire agency reporter from a stretcher at the hospital.

Representatives of the US, the European Union and the Nato condemned the attack.

"We strongly condemn today's vicious attack...We stand with Afghanistan for peace," the US charge d'affaires in Kabul, Ross Wilson, wrote on Twitter.

Condemning the attack, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the move was made by those who were against the return of peace in Afghanistan and seek to use the country for their own gain.

He called on the US and other global powers to keep an eye on the elements opposed to the return of peace in Afghanistan.

The foreign minister said the exercise was one that will ‘test our patience but that there is no other solution but to remain steadfast in the pursuit of peace.’

He regretted that for the past 19 years, the country had been witnessing such incidents and noted that the people of Afghanistan truly desire peace.

“The attack is extremely regrettable and condemnable,” he said, adding that the Taliban had denied any involvement in it.

“Those who seek to disrupt peace are in Afghanistan and also outside of it,” he said, without elaborating further.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump Friday said the Taliban could "possibly" overrun the United States-backed Afghan government after foreign troops withdraw from the country as part of a deal signed last week.

"Countries have to take care of themselves," Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday.

"You can only hold someone's hand for so long."

The US-Taliban deal signed in Qatar's capital last week would see US and Nato forces completely withdraw over a 14-month timeline to end the 18-year Afghanistan war.

Asked if the Taliban could eventually seize power from the current US-backed government, Trump said it is "not supposed to happen that way but it possibly will".

"We can't be there for the next 20 years. We've been there for 20 years and we've been protecting the country but we can't be there for the next - eventually, they're going to have to protect themselves," he said, reports the international media.

Trump, who on Tuesday had a "good talk" during a phone call with a senior Taliban leader, added he did not know if the Afghan government had the ability to defend itself from fighters after foreign forces pull out.

"I don't know. I can't answer that question," he said. "We'll have to see what happens."