Smoke rises after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, April 19, 2016.
Advertisement
Asked about the peace talks, Yusupov said the importance of this small peace deal is only symbolic, as actual peace talks with the Taliban have yet to start.
Earlier during the day, the foreign ministry condemned the attack in a statement.
“The area has been cleared of insurgents, and the attack is over”, Kabul police spokesman Basir Mujahid said.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani promised to “avenge every drop of our people’s blood”, in a Tweet.
Ban spoke during a visit to The Hague, Netherlands.
During a White House briefing in Washington Tuesday, Press Secretary Josh Earnest called the suicide bombings a “cowardly attack on Afghan forces and civilians”.
Ban also urged the worldwide community to cooperate in tacking violent extremist, saying, “we must fight against these terrorist attacks”.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the complex attack, which included a massive vehicle bomb that exploded during morning rush hour and shook buildings throughout the capital.
The U.S. has 9,800 troops operating in Afghanistan in counterterrorism and train, advise and assist missions, but the Obama administration plans to draw down to 5,500 service members by year’s end.
The United Nations Security Council also condemned “in the strongest terms the terrorist attack” in Kabul, expressing in a written statement their deep sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the people and government of Afghanistan. A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden truck outside the compound, and a pair of gunmen entered the compound in the aftermath before being killed in a battle with military forces.
Political analyst Haroun Mir said the violence highlighted the inability of the security forces to prevent such a large assault in the heart of the capital, underscoring the depth of the political disarray in the government.
The U.S. embassy said it was not affected by the blast.
Afghan security forces regularly foil similar attacks, correspondents say, but with explosives easily available and bomb-making skills common, it is hard to prevent all of them.
A spokesman for the interior ministry said: “These brutal acts of the Taliban are a crime against humanity, and a war crime”.
The number of Taliban attackers is still unclear, though Afghan Interior Ministry officials said at least one attacker was killed in the gunbattle that followed.
The NDS has not given any figures for casualties among its personnel, but Zahir Sadat, a lawmaker from Panjshir, and Abdul Rahoof Enhami from Badakhshan, said that around 30 NDS men from their districts had been buried.
He added that more than 320 were wounded, with many of them battling for their lives in hospital.
A Taliban spokesman has told AP the militant group was responsible.
Advertisement
The attack comes just after last week’s announcement that the Taliban assured they were going to escalate their attacks and measured against the Afghan government, assuring all means will be used against the enemy.
