WASHINGTON DC: The United States is confident that the Haqqani network wasbehind the Taliban’s Saturday ambulance bomb in Kabul that killed more than100 people, officials say, a conclusion that could add friction to tiesbetween Washington and Islamabad.
The United States has long blamed militant havens in Pakistan forprolonging the war in Afghanistan, accusing Pakistan of giving insurgentsfrom the Haqqani network a place to plot attacks and rebuild their forces.
“We are very confident the Taliban Haqqani network was behind the killingof more than 103 people this past Saturday,” said Captain Tom Gresback, aUS military spokesperson for the NATO-led Resolute Support mission inAfghanistan, without elaborating further on US intelligence or offering anylink to Pakistan.
Another US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, alsotold Reuters the United States believed the attack was the work of theTaliban-affiliated Haqqani network, which Washington and Kabul have longaccused of being behind some of the Afghanistan’s most deadly attacks.
Afghanistan’s envoy to the United Nations, Mahmoud Saikal, on Mondaysuggested the plot was too complex for the Taliban to have developed ontheir own.
“Given the degree of sophistication … can you expect an illiterate Talibanto come up with this kind of genius plot, using ambulances?” Saikaltold Reuters in an interview, adding Kabul was still gathering information.“It’s not a simple thing to do.”
Saturday’s blast, claimed by the Taliban, was the deadliest since 150people were killed in a huge truck bomb explosion last May near the Germanembassy, which US officials also blamed on the Haqqani network.
It followed another Taliban-claimed attack a week earlier that killed morethan 20 people in a siege of the city’s Intercontinental Hotel.
On Monday, militants raided a military academy in Kabul, the Afghancapital, killing 11 soldiers. Islamic State claimed responsibility for theattack near the Marshal Fahim military academy on the city’s westernoutskirts.
The attacks have put pressure on President Ashraf Ghani and his US allies,who have expressed growing confidence that a new, more aggressive militarystrategy has succeeded in driving Taliban insurgents back from majorprovincial centres.
Ties between the United States and Pakistan are already brittle afterWashington announced plans earlier in January to suspend up to roughly $2billion in US security assistance. US President Donald Trump tweeted thatPakistan had rewarded past US aid with “nothing but lies & deceit”.
Pakistan, which denies the accusations it allows havens for militants,condemned Saturday’s attack and accused Washington of betrayal.
As tensions rise, the United States has been quietly examining ways tomitigate any retaliation by Pakistan, a crucial gateway for US militarysupplies destined for troops fighting the 16-year-old war in landlockedAfghanistan.
It also has not ruled out additional steps, including unilateral strikes inPakistan against Haqqani targets.
Saikal renewed the longstanding Afghan concern that the plots for theseattacks were coming from Pakistan and cheered Trump’s rejection on Mondayof the possibility of peace talks with the Taliban.
“We hope the fight also includes focus on where the terrorist attacks areplotted and organised,” he said in an interview.