Islamic State gunmen launched a brazen attack on Kabul University on Monday, killing at least 22 students and wounding more than 20 others in what Afghan government officials described as a “despicable act of terror” at a time when the Trump administration is hoping to cut a peace deal that will end the U.S. combat mission there.
Officials said that three assailants stormed the campus as it hosted a book fair attended by top regional officials, including Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan. Security forces quickly fought back, sparking a lengthy gunfight on the university grounds as students and instructors tried to flee to safety.
Some students were found lying dead beside their books, according to media reports.
“My heart is still beating for this academic institution,” said Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who has lectured at the university. “Today’s attack has left us grief-stricken.”
Fathullah Moradi, a student at the university, told Reuters that the gunmen “were shooting at every student they saw,” and that those on campus frantically tried to escape the area in the face of constant gunfire.
Afghan officials said that two of the attackers were shot and killed by security forces while another was killed after blowing up explosives.
The Taliban, the radical Islamist insurgency that struck a peace agreement with the U.S. last February and has begun power-sharing talks with the Afghan government, denied any involvement in the attack. The Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the violence, seemingly confirming the Taliban’s denial.
But the Taliban also accused the Afghan government of essentially staging a false flag operation in the hopes of drumming up anti-Taliban sentiment across the country.
The horrific attack — the second terrorist assault on an Afghan academic institution in a week — underscores the instability and lack of security that still reign across Afghanistan and the monumental foreign policy challenge that awaits the next U.S. president. Whether President Trump or Democratic candidate Joseph R. Biden wins Tuesday, the next commander in chief will need to decide whether to continue withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan in the face of continued brutality and violence.
The growing footprint of the Islamic State also complicates the picture for Washington. The Pentagon over the past four years has successfully recaptured virtually all of the territory the Islamic State once held in Iraq and Syria, and the extremist group is now a shell of the powerful “caliphate” it boasted of just five years ago.
But recent Defense Department assessments say the organization has carved out a dangerous presence in Afghanistan, particularly in remote regions near the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Monday’s attack is more evidence that the group has not only found shelter in Afghanistan but is capable of launching highly coordinated, effective attacks. Last week, the Islamic State carried out an assault on a tutoring center in Kabul, killing at least 24 students.
The attack on Kabul University, Islamic State leaders said, specifically targeted “judges and investigators belonging to the apostate Afghan government” who were on campus.
It’s unclear exactly how the attack could affect talks between the Taliban and Afghan government. Taliban leaders seized on the incident to promote their own narrative.
“It is with great sadness to have learnt that multiple assailants carried out an attack on Kabul university and inflicted casualties on university students and other civilian personnel,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement. “Senior Kabul administration officials, instead of feeling a sense of shame and remorse, are trying to somehow attribute responsibility to the [Taliban], which itself shows that these attacks are a joint venture carried out to manufacture raw propaganda material.”
The Taliban insisted it only carries out attacks on Afghan government military outposts, though the U.S., United Nations and a host of other international observers have said the group is responsible for the deaths and injuries of scores of civilians.
The U.S. and Taliban deal calls for American forces to exit the country by mid-2021 in exchange for promises by the Taliban that Afghanistan will never again become a base of operations for terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.
The U.S. had about 12,000 troops in the country at the time the deal was signed. Trump administration officials have said recently that number will be down to about 2,500 by early next year.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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