On September 18, 2019, a suicide attack from the Taliban killed 39 people in Afghanistan. 95 people were wounded. The Taliban states that the bombing was targeted towards a government intelligent building in Qalat, the capital of Zabul province. The bomb mostly killed doctors and patients from the hospital next to the government building. This hospital is also said to be the main health facility in Zabul Province. Governor Rahmatullah Yarmal said it had been "destroyed.”
The Taliban has warned that they will intensify their campaign against the Afghanistan government because they do not want people to vote on the September 28 election. President Ghani is running for his second five year term and the Taliban is against this. Many people fear that the election on the 28th will be the deadliest the country has ever had.
The Taliban has promised to be at the election with multiple attacks and they are stronger than ever. Voting will take place only in government-controlled areas which is 60% of Afghanistan. 11% is still completely controlled by the Taliban and the remainder lives in the “contested” territory.
President Trump is eager to end US involvement with the Afghan war, which has lasted for 18+ years and he was close to doing so. The United States has had peace talks in the Qatari capital, Doha. He was open to withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan in exchange for security guarantees from the Taliban. But, just last week President Donald Trump ended those peace talks with the Taliban. Following the cut off of peace talks, an American Marine and 11 others were killed in a suicide attack made from the Taliban. None of these peace talks included the Afghanistan government. The main goal of the talks was to eventually get wider peace negotiations.
The Afghanistan conflict is now known to be one of the deadliest in the world. In August an average of 74 people were killed every day.
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