Few hours later, the Taliban group said it was behind the attack in Samangan’s provincial capital, adding the attack left dozens of the agency’s personnel killed and wounded.
Monday’s suicide bombing on the intelligence compound in Samangan’s provincial capital of Aybak killed at least 11 of the agency’s staff, Abdul Latif Ibrahimi, the provincial governor spoke to TKG.
Political affairs experts believe a Taliban’s continued violence would lead to a stalemate in the Afghan peace process.
Jailani Zwak, a political analyst, said an escalation of violence against civilians would have the peace process reach a deadlock.
The attack came amid the Afghan foreign ministry announced earlier the foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan held a summit under a trilateral setting, to discuss strengthening cooperation in trade, transport, energy, and investment.
Meanwhile, the Afghan government has released 180 Taliban prisoners recently, pushing the total number of prisoners released to 4,199, said Javid Faisal, a spokesperson for the National Security Council.
The armed group has yet to deliver on its commitments, said Mr. Faisal in a tweet. The Taliban group was set to free 1,000 of the government captives as per the agreement struck between the United States and the insurgent group, but according to the NSC’s spokesman, the group hasn’t fulfilled its pledges and continued killing Afghans.
Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the political office of the Taliban, earlier on Sunday, July 12, said the group released a dozen additional prisoners of the Afghan government in the southern Kandahar province.
Members of the Afghan parliament, however, believe holding regional conferences paves the way for peace in the country.
Waqef Hakimi, a member of the Lower House (Wolesi Jirga), said that regional meetings are considerably important for the peace process. Using these meetings, the Afghan government should put the strategies of countries in the same direction.
The car bomb attack on an NDS compound in Samangan province have raised concern that a Taliban’s continued violence can spoil the peace process.
What will be the future of the fragile Afghan peace process still remains unclear.
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