WASHINGTON (HRNW) – The US negotiator on Afghanistan blamed the Islamic State group Thursday for the shocking attack on a maternity hospital as he urged the government and Taliban to stick to a faltering peace process.
Zalmay Khalilzad said the US government had assessed that the Islamic State in Khorasan, the Afghan branch of the extremists, carried out Tuesday s dual attacks on the Kabul hospital and on a funeral in eastern Afghanistan.
The Islamic State group “opposes a peace agreement between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban, and seeks to encourage sectarian war as in Iraq and Syria,” Khalilzad wrote on Twitter.
“Rather than falling into the ISIS trap and delay peace or create obstacles, Afghans must come together to crush this menace and pursue a historic peace opportunity,” he wrote.
“No more excuses. Afghans, and the world, deserve better.”
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the funeral bombing, which killed 32 mourners.
But no group has taken credit for the assault on the maternity hospital where at least 24 people including newborns, mothers and nurses were killed.
Be the first to comment on "US blames IS for Kabul maternity attack, urges peace process"