A van packed with explosives went off in a crowded part of the western Herat province in the evening of the 12th March 2021 killing eight people and wounding 53 others including women, children and security forces. The death toll is expected to rise since the explosion also destroyed dozens of houses and shops and several of the injured were critical. Nevertheless, no one has been held responsible for the attack, however local officials have blamed Taliban insurgents, which are fighting the foreign-backed Afghan government since 2001.
The United Nations Security Council condemned the alarming increase in attacks deliberately targeting afghan civilians, and called for an action to end the indiscriminate violence and to condemn those responsible. Indeed, the victims of these atrocious attacks have been primarily civil servants, the judiciary, the media, health care and humanitarian workers, those who protect and promote human rights as well as ethnic and religious minorities. Besides, according to a report released by the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, there were 8,820 civilian casualties in 2020.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has claimed responsibility for many of the attacks while the government and the Taliban condemned each other for undermining the peace process. The United States (US), following the increased levels of violence, have proposed a peace agreement to be confirmed in future weeks and are revising the peace deal concluded by Trump with the Taliban, which plans the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 US military forces from Afghanistan by May 1. Also, the agreement offered by the US calls for a peace government to guide Afghanistan to elections and constitutional reforms, to allow the protection of women and minorities’ rights.
To know more, please read:
https://aoav.org.uk/2021/car-bomb-kills-at-least-7-injures-53-in-afghan-herat-province/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/13/car-bomb-in-afghanistans-herat-province-kills-several
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-blast-idUSKBN2B42OR
Author: Eleonora Gonnelli; Editor: Benedetta Spizzichino
