Kabul wedding attack a monstrous act

The terrorist attack that targeted a wedding in the Afghan capital, Kabul, is a cowardly, monstrous act that turned a scene of joy and celebration into horror and carnage.

The perpetrators of the crime against humanity should be swiftly brought to justice.

Imagine the plight of a groom who greets smiling guests in the afternoon, before seeing their bodies being carried out just a few hours later. Targeting helpless civilians, including the elderly, women and children, reveals the depraved mindset of the killers.

The massive blast, which claimed several innocent lives, underscores both the inadequacy of Afghanistan’s security forces and the scale of the problem they face as Washington and the Taliban finalise a deal to reduce the US military presence in Afghanistan.

The conflict in Afghanistan continues to be devastating for civilians.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has in its latest report stated that more civilians were killed by Afghan and international coalition forces in the first half of this year than by the Taliban and other militants, which they should take a serious note of.

At least 3,812 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded in the first half of 2019 in the war against militant groups, including a big increase in the number of casualties caused by government and foreign forces.

The fighting has been forcing civilians to live under the constant threat of being targeted by militants or being caught up in ground fighting, or becoming inadvertent victims of air strikes by Afghan government and foreign forces.

More than 32,000 civilians in Afghanistan have been killed in the past decade, as per UN figures. More children were killed last year — 927 — than in any other over the past decade by all actors.

Meaningless violence has become a norm in the country and the situation cannot be allowed to continue.

On Monday, scores of people including children were wounded after a series of explosions shook the eastern city of Jalalabad, as the country’s independence day was marred by bloodshed.

As many as 10 blasts were reported in and around the city in Nangarhar province and the casualty numbers rose as the day wore on.

Mayhem from Afghanistan’s war continues to wreak havoc on Afghans every day.

An attack deliberately targeting civilians is an outrage, and deeply troubling, as it can only be described as a cowardly act of terror, as stated by Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan.

Such deliberate attacks on civilians signal a deliberate intent to spread fear among the population, which has already suffered too much.

The pace of such atrocious attacks indicates that current measures in place to protect must be strengthened and those who organised such attacks must be brought to justice and held to account.

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, MoFAIC, has condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack and reaffirmed its support to the Afghan government as it confronts the menace of terrorism.

As the ministry correctly pointed out, this cowardly attack claimed by Daesh on a civilian gathering is a solemn reminder of the complex challenges faced by the Afghan government as it works to enter a new phase of stability and security.

This unacceptable loss of life definitely underlines the importance of multilateral efforts to promote a comprehensive peace agreement that will degrade the ability of transnational terror groups to operate in Afghanistan, as the UAE foreign ministry pointed out.