Entire Country Believes Taliban is Behind Girls School Bombing in Afghanistan, Expert Says
On 5/10/21 at 5:01 PM EDT
Newsweek their denials don t really matter. They can deny it as much as they want, but the reality is that the entire country believes that it s the Taliban who are behind these attacks, said Belquis Ahmadi, a senior program officer at the United States Institute of Peace. These are just empty words just useless, baseless denials. The truth is that they have hands in all of these attacks one way or another, Ahmadi said.
The May 8 bombing is one of several attacks reported in recent days as U.S. troops began withdrawing from Afghanistan. Three blasts went off during the attack near the entrance to the school, which is located in a largely Shiite Muslim area, as students were leaving for the day, according to the Associated Press. While male students occupy the campus during the morning hours, female students take classes in the afternoons, the AP reported. T
US General Stephen Townsend, who heads US Africa Command, is sounding the alarm about Chinese intentions
He said China has approached countries stretching from Mauritania to south of Namibia to establish a naval facility
Such an installation could be used to rearm and repair warships or be used as a launching pad for aircraft carriers
The Atlantic coast concerns me greatly, Townsend said, pointing to the relatively shorter distance from Africa s west coast to the US
share
Dear reader,
Welcome to Gandhara s weekly newsletter. This briefing brings you the best of our reporting from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
If you’re new to the newsletter or haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so here.
Economic dire straits
Afghanistan could face a worsening financial crunch as U.S. and allied forces head for a final exit later this year. Western donor funding still accounts for some 80 percent of its budget, and without it the Afghan government could collapse.
Frud Bezhan reports that the country is on its way to a full-blown humanitarian crisis: Afghanistan’s population of 35 million already faces rapidly rising displacement and a whopping 72 percent poverty rate.