U.S. Secretary of state Michael Pompeo and special presidential envoy on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov almost simultaneously called on the Afghan authorities to abandon the blow to the forces of the banned terrorist movement “Taliban”. Diplomats believe that this would jeopardize the negotiation process, the progress which was achieved with great difficulty. To hit the Taliban, the Afghan government decided after yesterday’s attacks on members of police funeral, and also at the hospital. Meanwhile, the Taliban denied involvement in these attacks, and at least one of them, the responsibility has been taken by another group — “Islamic state” (IG; banned in Russia).”The Taliban makes no sense to hold such resonant attacks. And IG strongly wants to destabilize the situation,”— said Wednesday the Agency “RIA Novosti” the Russian President’s special envoy on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov, in essence, shifting responsibility from one banned terrorist groups on the other.We are talking about yesterday’s militant attacks on a police funeral in Nangarhar province and a hospital in Kabul, which is run by the international organization “Doctors without borders”. While the Taliban denied involvement in both attacks, while the IG admitted responsibility for the explosion at the funeral. It is reported portal SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors the actions of the militants on the Internet.Nonetheless, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani made his conclusions from the incident. Speaking on Tuesday on local television, he stated that the Taliban “ignored numerous calls for reduction of violence” and therefore the Afghan troops must “transition from active defense mode attack”.”This causes a feeling of regret, because by their actions the head of the Kabul administration, in fact, stops the movement in the direction of starting an intra-Afghan negotiations”,— said the Agency TASS the statement of Mr. Ghani Zamir Kabulov. On the situation in Afghanistan, said Wednesday the Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov. “In spite of these efforts, the situation has not changed, not to say that it is still changing for the worse”— he said, opening a meeting of foreign Ministers of the Shanghai cooperation organization.A similar statement several hours earlier, was made by the U.S. Secretary of state Michael Pompeo. Calling the attacks “an example of absolute evil,” he called to investigate them together with the Taliban. “We have noted that the Taliban denied any involvement and condemned both attacks, calling monstrous,— said Mr. Pompeo.— The Taliban and the Afghan government should cooperate to make the perpetrators be brought to justice”.Recall that on 29 February, the U.S. and the Taliban subscribeisali agreement that provides for a gradual withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, the release of prisoners on both sides and the formation of a new government with the participation of the Taliban. Significantly reduce the level of violence is not helped, however, the process of exchange of prisoners between the government and the Taliban is gradually progressing. It is expected that successful completion of this process unlocks launch inter-Afghan talks.Kirill Krivosheev
