KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani has expressed his shock at Saturday's suicide car bombing in Kabul and strongly condemned the incident, which left at least 12 people dead and up to 80 injured.
In a statement issued by the Presidential Palace, Ghani said "the goals of the terrorists are clearly bloodshed of the innocent people of Afghanistan".
"The enemies of the people have lost their capacity to face the security forces of the country and for this reason they are killing innocent people," he said.
According to the statement, Ghani reiterated government's commitment to stamping out insurgent activities in the country. He also shared his condolences with the families of those who lost their lives in the attack.
Meanwhile, NATO-led Resolute Support also strongly condemned the attack which left three of its foreign civilian contractors dead.
Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner, Resolute Support Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications said: "Instead of seizing an opportunity to embrace peace, insurgents have again chosen violence in an attempt to remain relevant."
"Regardless of the target of their attacks, insurgents continue to inflict a heavy toll on innocent Afghan civilians," he said.
Shoffner said despite the attack, Resolute Support remains committed to assisting its Afghan partners in achieving sustainable security and stability.
The United Nations Assisted Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also strongly condemned the attack. Once again they called for insurgents to immediately stop all such attacks on civilian-populated areas in the country.
Meanwhile, through it's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan said it "condemns, in the strongest terms, the suicide attack that took place near a hospital in Kabul [Saturday] which resulted in the loss of precious lives and left many people injured".
"We standby with our brotherly people of Afghanistan in this moment of grief and convey our deepest condolences to the bereaved families. We pray to Almighty Allah to grant them patience and forbearance in this hour of difficulty and hope for the speedy recovery of the injured," read the statement.
"The abominable act of targeting innocent civilians reflects the cowardice of the terrorists. It strengthens our resolve to continue our struggle of countering terrorism in all of its forms. We reiterate our resolve to closely coordinate with the Government of Afghanistan in this fight against our common enemy."
Saturday's attack took place during afternoon rush hour traffic in Macroyan 4 in Kabul city – which is primarily a residential area
The target of the attack was a convoy carrying foreigners. Three U.S nationals, employed as civilian contractors with Resolute Support, were killed along with at least nine Afghans. Over 60 people, including women and children, were injured.
The deadly blast also caused extensive damage to nearby buildings, including a private hospital, homes and to scores of vehicles.
The Taliban however has denied involvement in the bombing. According to a statement they said they were not involved in any way in the attack.
This latest attack comes amid a recent spate of deadly blasts that have rocked the country's capital – killing scores of people and injuring hundreds – mostly civilians.
High-ranking officials, including Ghani, CEO Abdullah Abdullah and others have all pointed fingers at Pakistan in the past two weeks for the attacks. After coming in to power, Ghani sought to turn over a new leaf with Pakistan, and took a more conciliatory tone in his negotiations. However, following the suspension of peace talks with the Taliban and the recent attacks on Kabul, his approach has changed.
Two weeks ago, Ghani addressed the nation and made it clear that the recent Kabul bombings, particularly that in Shah Shaheed - which killed 15 and injured over 400 people, mostly civilians – was unacceptable and that it was a game changer for the country.
He said the only message he was getting from Pakistan was one of war and that so long as there was bloodshed in the country, the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan meant nothing.
According to him Afghanistan can no longer stand back and witness the killing of its citizens.
Pakistan has however continued to deny links to the Taliban and condemned the recent attacks. They also repeatedly state that there is a need for joint efforts to root out terrorism.
But Ghani has continued to push for international support to put pressure on Pakistan over its ties to terrorism in the region – a move that has had some effect as last week Washington cut off billions of USD in financial aid to Pakistan, stating Islamabad had not adequately worked to counter terrorist groups within its borders, like the Haqqani Network. (Tolonews)