The Taliban claimed responsibility for Sunday night's devastating car bombing in Kabul, which targeted Afghan Defense Minister Bismillah Mohammadi.
This is the group's first significant attack, in blatant breach of the February 2020 Doha agreement with the United States, which barred such attacks in major cities.
According to the Interior Ministry, there was no claim of responsibility for the late-night incident on Tuesday, which left eight people dead and at least 20 others injured.
In the morning, the advancing Taliban rebels turned to Twitter to claim responsibility for the attack in Kabul's center. "The attack was carried out by several ‘brave Mujahideen’ of the Islamic Emirate's (Taliban) ‘Martyrdom Brigade’, armed with light and heavy weapons, as well as using a car bomb," the statement said, claiming an important meeting was taking place at the defense minister's office at the time of the attack.
The Taliban said, "According to reports, the 'enemy' suffered heavy casualties in the attack." It further warned that this strike will be the start of reprisal operations against "Kabul administration" important persons and leaders (the Afghan government).
The insurgents threatened, "The Islamic Emirate (Taliban) will no longer be indifferent to the 'crimes of the occupier and the domestic enemy' and will fight it with all its might."
A powerful explosion was followed by gunfire outside Mohammadi's apartment in Kabul's capital, not far from the heavily protected Green Zone, on Tuesday evening. Witnesses told Anadolu Agency that the explosion in the Sherpur neighborhood looked to be triggered by a car bomb.
Mohammadi posted on Twitter that he was well. In his native Dari tongue, he wrote, "Do not worry, everything is fine,"
Minutes after the terrible blast, tens of thousands of Afghans, mostly young men, took to the streets to yell "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) in support of security troops who had defied the Taliban and were undeterred by the devastating vehicle bombing.
Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani told an unusual joint session of parliament earlier this week that a new security strategy backed by the US and the international community would put the Taliban to their knees in six months, accusing the Taliban of not being honest about peace.
After capturing nearly 200 rural districts, the Taliban launched an assault on major towns on Friday, marching on Herat, Afghanistan's third-largest city, which has an estimated population of half a million people.
