Afghanistan vows to crush Islamic State havens after attack

Afghanistan’s president on Monday vowed to 'eliminate' all safe havens of  Islamic State group as country marked a subdued 100th Independence Day after a horrific wedding attack claimed by local IS affiliate.

President Ashraf Ghani’s comments came as Afghanistan mourns at least 63 people, including children, killed in Kabul bombing at a wedding hall late Saturday night. Close to 200 ors were wounded. Fresh violence was reported Monday as an Afghan official said at least 66 people were wounded in a series of explosions in eastern city of Jalalab. re was immediate claim of responsibility.

Many outrd Afghans are asking wher an approaching deal between United States and Taliban to end nearly 18 years of fighting — America’s longest war — will bring peace to long-suffering civilians. wedding hall bomber detonated his explosives in middle of a dancing crowd, and IS affiliate later said he h targeted a garing of mirity Shiites, whom it views as apostates deserving of death.

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Both bride and groom survived, and in an emotional interview with local brocaster TOLOnews distraught groom, Mirwais Alani, said ir lives were devastated within seconds. Even as victims’ loved ones mourned, re were fears that funerals and memorials could also be targeted.

A sharply worded Taliban statement questioned why U.S. failed to identify Saturday’s attacker in vance. Ar Taliban statement marking independence day said to 'leave Afghanistan to Afghans.'

More than anything in ir nearly year-long negotiations with U.S., Taliban want some 20,000 U.S. and allied forces to withdraw from country. U.S. for its part wants Taliban assurances that Afghanistan — which hosted al-Qaida leer Osama bin Len before 9/11 — will t be a launching p for global terror attacks.

U.S. envoy in talks with Taliban, Zalmay Khalilz, on Sunday said peace process should be accelerated to help Afghanistan defeat IS affiliate. That would include intra-Afghan talks on country’s future, a fraught process that could take years.

But Ghani on Monday asserted that Taliban, whom U.S. w hopes will help to curb IS affiliate’s rise, is just as much to blame for wedding attack. His government is openly frustrated at being sidelined from U.S. talks with insurgent group, which regards Afghan government as a U.S. puppet.

Taliban “have created platform for terrorists” with ir own brutal assaults on schools, mosques and or public places over years, president said.

More than 32,000 civilians in Afghanistan have been killed in past dece, United Nations said earlier this year. More children were killed last year — 927 — than in any or over past dece by all actors, U.N. said, including in operations against insurgent hideouts carried out by international forces.

Details have yet to emerge on Monday’s blasts in Jalalab, capital of Nangarhar province, where both Taliban and IS affiliate are active. or Ahm Habibi, deputy spokesman for provincial goverr, said some 10 explosions took place and that most people h mir injuries. And in capital of neighboring Laghman province, Miterlam, goverr’s spokesman Asullah Dawlatzai said a mortar attack by Taliban slightly wounded six people.

“We will take revenge for every civilian drop of blood,” Afghanistan’s president declared. “Our struggle will continue against (IS), we will take revenge and will root m out.” He urged international community to join those efforts.

Ghani asserted that safe havens for militants are across border in Pakistan, whose intelligence service has long been accused of supporting Taliban. IS affiliate’s claim of wedding attack said it was carried out by a Pakistani fighter seeking martyrdom.

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Ghani also called on people in Pakistan “who very much want peace” to help identify militant safe havens re.

Last month after meeting with President Donald Trump, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan insisted he will do his best to persue Taliban to open negotiations with Afghan government to resolve war.

Trump on Sunday told reporters he doesn’t want Afghanistan to be a “laboratory for terror” and he described discussions with Taliban as “good.” He was briefed on Friday on progress of U.S.-Taliban talks, of which few details have emerged.

Some analysts have warned that Trump’s erness to bring at least some troops home ahe of next year’s election could be weakening U.S. stance in negotiations as Taliban might see little need to make significant concessions.

In a mess marking Afghanistan’s independence and 'century of resilience,' U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called weekend wedding bombing “an attack against humanity.” It was one of many international expressions of condemnation pouring in following attack.