- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
MORE than one rocket landed on Tuesday (20) near the Afghanistan presidential palace in Kabul when president Ashraf Ghani was set to address people on the occasion of Eid-a-Adha.
A video shared by Afghanistan’s TOLOnews showed the president offering the prayers with many others even as the blasting noise of rocket fire pierced the morning air. But even as loud explosions continued, the prayer party looked unperturbed. Security personnel were seen rushing in the background towards the locations where the blasts took place.
No reports of injuries from explosions were received as all the rockets fell outside the fortified palace premises, Mirwais Stanikzai, spokesperson of the Afghan interior ministry. No one reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack and Taliban insurgents denied their involvement.
Insurgents firing rockets into the capital city is nothing new. In March 2020, four rockets were fired on the edge of the presidential palace during Ghani’s inauguration as the president. On that occasion, Islamic State insurgents claimed responsibility.
Ghani, whose government in Kabul has come under considerable pressure with the pull-out of the US-led troops from Afghanistan, slammed the Taliban in a speech on Eid. He said the extremist group has “no will” for peace and in times to come, decisions made by his government will be influenced by that factor.
“Taliban made clear many things. Mr. Abdullah (Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah) told me some minutes ago that there is no will for peace in Taliban. We sent the delegation to do the ultimatum and to show that we have the will for peace and we are ready for sacrifice for it, but they (Taliban) have no will for peace and we should make decisions based on this,” Ghani said.
The president said Kabul’s decision to send a high-ranking delegation to Doha, Qatar, for negotiations was an ultimatum. He added that he worked on an “urgent and practical plan” last week to overcome the current situation. He also said that Afghans should prove in action that they are united.
