Ghani vows 'revenge' for deadly attacks, says 11 arrested

"People will not forget," said the president.

AFP

2018-02-02

President Ashraf Ghani is shown February 2 in Kabul speaking after Friday prayers. [Facebook/Afghan Presidential Palace]

KABUL -- Eleven suspects have been detained in connection to a spate of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani said Friday (February 2), as he vowed to take revenge for the bloodshed.

The government is under growing public pressure to improve security in Kabul after three major attacks in the past two weeks.

Atrocities by the Taliban, ISIS

Since January 20 in Kabul alone, militants have stormed the Intercontinental Hotel, bombed a crowded street near Jamhuriat Hospital with an ambulance packed with explosives and raided a military compound, killing more than 130 people in the three terrorist acts.

An office of Save the Children in Jalalabad was also attacked. Five people were killed, said officials.

Afghan medics in Kabul treat a wounded woman after a car bomb exploded near the old Interior Ministry building January 27. More than 100 people were killed in the explosion, which the Taliban claimed. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the January 20 attack on the Intercontinental Hotel and the January 27 ambulance bombing. The "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) claimed the January 24 attack on Save the Children and the January 29 raid on the military compound.

Never forget

"People will not forget. Even if it takes a hundred years, the Afghans will take their revenge," Ghani said in a televised address to the nation after Friday prayers. He gave no further details about the 11 detained.

Officials will submit a new security plan for Kabul Sunday (February 4), Ghani said, speaking inside the heavily fortified presidential palace.

Afghans "demand" peace and want "practical actions", he added.

His remarks came a day after Afghan officials said they had handed "undeniable" evidence to Pakistan that they claimed showed the recent attacks were planned on Pakistani soil.

The Pakistani embassy in Kabul said the information was "being examined for its authenticity".

Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan of providing safe havens to leaders of the Taliban and other militant groups.

Pakistan denies the charges, insisting it has eradicated safe havens in the tribal region along the border with Afghanistan.

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2 Comment

Azizullah | 2018-02-09

Long live my dear president ghani

Abdul Qadim | 2018-02-08

For the past three years that he has been in the office, Ghani hasn't told the truth. He always deceives people and lies to them. He has mentioned revenge times and over; and yet, he has never hold truth to his pledge. Meanwhile, after every explosion and bombing attack the majority of people in this country calls for the execution by hanging of Taliban prisoners in Afghan prisons, the number of whom people want to be equal to the number of civilian victims. Ghani, however, has always refused to fulfill this public request, the reason for which is that he and the perpetrators share the same ethnicity. This in turn has further strengthened the accusations regarding the Presidential Palace's alleged collusion with the murderers. Hence, the Afghan people no longer trust any of Ghani's pledges and consider him as an accessory in murder and massacre against the defenseless people of this country. Some believe that executing those Taliban members whose cases have been completed can be effective in reducing crimes in the country. The government, however, has been reluctant to do so for unknown reasons. Not only those who have been sentenced to death have they not been executed, but in some cases in the battlefields, there have been doubts and concerns regarding the involvement of Pashtun people in surrendering ammunition and equipment to the Taliban fighters. Moreover, some of them were mysteriously released after being arrested by government forces, and once again joined the militan