Underscoring the lack of security in Afghanistan, four German peacekeeping troops were killed on Saturday in an explosion that wounded 31 others. This was the biggest attack on the international security assistance forces (ISAF) yet, according to Reuters. The peacekeeping troops were traveling on a bus in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, when a suicide bomber in a taxi drove alongside the bus and exploded, according to the Los Angeles Times. At least one Afghan citizen was killed in the explosion and an unknown number were wounded, the Times reports.
The situation in Kabul “is not yet stable and not yet 100% safe,” said ISAF Lt. Col. Thomas Lobbering, according to the Times. Currently, there are only about 5,000 international peacekeeping troops stationed in Afghanistan, and they are all in Kabul. United Nations spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva cautioned that “this act … in all likelihood is not a one-off event.” Recently, citizens have been facing increasing threats for expressing their political views in Afghanistan. Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations Special Representative to Afghanistan, asserts that Afghanistan has plunged into its worst security crisis since the end of the war last year and that Western nations are sabotaging Karzai’s attempts to bring security by continuing to dismiss the need to expand the international peacekeeping force (ISAF) beyond Kabul.
The Feminist Majority continues to lead the call for peace troop expansion, increased reconstruction funding, and for more resources to support the work of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Independent Human Rights Commission.
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