Employees of the Russian diplomatic mission in Afghanistan at the time of the explosion announced the list of those who received visas.
As a result of the explosion at the entrance to the Russian embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul, many people were killed, including two employees of the diplomatic mission. Russia is one of the few countries that did not evacuate its embassy from Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power and actively engages with them, despite the fact that it recognizes this organization as a terrorist organization. Correspondent.net telling the details.
Explosion in the queue of students
On September 5, at 10:50 local time in Kabul, in the immediate vicinity of the entrance to the consular section of the Russian Embassy, an unknown militant detonated an explosive device. As a result of the attack, two employees of the diplomatic mission were killed.
People standing in line for visas were also killed. As reported by Sputnik Afghanistan, most of them are Afghan students who are waiting to receive visas or apply for them. An employee of the Russian embassy came out to them to announce the names of applicants for visas, and at that moment there was an explosion, a source told RIA Novosti.
According to the agency, at least ten people died in the explosion, eight others were hospitalized. Al Jazeera sources said there were at least eight dead.
According to eyewitnesses, the terrorist was wearing a vest with explosives, but the Afghan security forces did not have time to react. However, Taliban police said embassy guards shot him as he approached the gates of the diplomatic mission, after which an explosion was heard.
A suicide bomber blew himself up when a #Russian the diplomat came out to name the visa applicants.#kabul #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/oNqQvi4iFR
— Abdulhaq Omeri (@AbdulhaqOmeri) September 5, 2022
The Kremlin called the incident a terrorist attack. “Of course, we are talking about a terrorist attack. We strongly condemn such terrorist acts. And, of course, now the main thing that needs to be done is to get information from the area about what happened to our representatives, our diplomats,” the Kremlin spokesman told reporters. Dmitry Peskov.
After the explosion, the security of the Russian embassy was strengthened, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Lavrov’s colleague in the Taliban government, Abdul Kahar Balkhi, said that the Taliban will not allow “such negative actions of enemies to have a negative impact on the relationship between the two countries.”
Who is behind the explosion?
Russia is one of the few countries to maintain an embassy in Kabul after the Taliban took over the country more than a year ago. At the same time, the Taliban remains a terrorist and banned organization for the Russian authorities.
While Moscow does not officially recognize the Taliban government, they are in talks with officials. The Taliban is one of the main guests of St. Petersburg Economic Forum in 2022 and has been hosted at the highest level in the Russian Foreign Ministry for many years.
At the end of August, it became known that Moscow would provide oil and gas to Afghanistan in exchange for “honey, herbs and other natural products.” The Kremlin explained the contacts with the Taliban by the fact that they are “the de facto leadership of Afghanistan.”
Who and why organized the explosion is not known. No organization has yet claimed responsibility for it.
But the AP said that since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan a year ago, there have been numerous terrorist attacks in the country, for which the Islamic State has claimed responsibility. These groups have long been enemies, as the “Islamic State” also claims leadership in Afghanistan.
Orientalist, Afghanistan expert and leading researcher at the Institute for International Studies at MGIMO Alexander Knyazev said that the Taliban and a certain part of society are waiting for more effective cooperation on the Russian side. But there are forces that are not interested in this.
“This is a wide range of people from overt terrorist organizations to those who position themselves as anti-Taliban resistance forces. The suicide bomber can be sent by any movement that is not interested in the activities of the current government and stability in the country,” he was quoted by NEWS.ru
Knyazev also suggests that ISIS may have been involved in the attack. The expert added that, most likely, Russia after the terrorist attack will only strengthen cooperation with the current government.
“Most likely, the ISIS group, or rather their unit Vilayat Khorasan, which has been operating in Afghanistan for more than a decade, is responsible for the attack,” said Nikita Mendkovich, an expert at the Center for the Study of Modern Afghanistan.
According to the expert, in these attacks, the militants want to destabilize the situation and scare the population. And if we talk about the Russian embassy, perhaps the terrorists want to disrupt the established cooperation between Moscow and Kabul. This is done to worsen the economic situation of Afghans by disrupting the supply of food and fuel.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.