Léa Pelard reports on the recent terror attacks that have hit the city of Kabul, killing hundreds and wounding scores more

The Afghan capital of Kabul has once again been the target of multiple terror attacks with the city being struck by four separate incidents over the last 14 days.

In the wake of the Taliban’s attack on the Kabul Intercontinental Hotel that killed 18 people, ISIS attacked the provincial office of the UK aid group Save The Children in Jalalabad, killing another five people.

Three days later, the Taliban attacked the heart of the capital with an ambulance filled with explosives killing at least 103 people and wounded 235 others. The attack on Afghanistan’s main military academy, the Marshal Fahim National Defence University, killing 11 soldiers was the fourth attack on the region, which was claimed by ISIS.

The Taliban and ISIS are two ideologically different terrorist groups, but they both want to destabilize the Afghan government and fight against the US military presence in the country. In August 2017, Donald Trump has agreed to send additional US troops to Afghanistan, which rises to 14,000 the number of American soldiers fighting there.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement: “The Islamic Emirate has a clear message for Trump and his hand kissers that if you go ahead with a policy of aggression and speak from the barrel of a gun, don’t expect Afghans to grow flowers in response.”

Various international organizations are trying to avoid a further humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

Aedín Donnelly, Communications Manager for UNICEF Ireland, explained to thecity.ie the kind of humanitarian actions that aid groups can provide to countries under attack : “The children’s rights organisation works to provide populations affected by conflict with nutrition support, water, shelter materials, psycho-social support, education and healthcare during, and after, conflict.“

Charity groups work under tough conditions in Afghanistan, facing regular attacks and kidnappings. The attack of the non governmental organisation Save The Children is the proof of the security issues that aid groups face in the country.

Donnelly also went on to say that the “violent conflict is driving humanitarian needs to critical levels, and children are especially vulnerable. Children are not only coming under direct attack, but are also being denied basic services as schools, hospitals and civilian infrastructure are damaged or destroyed.“

Afghan’s population has been suffering hunger and war for decades. The four attacks aren’t the first in the country, they are quite frequent. Afghanistan is one of the 10 international countries where there are the most terrorist attacks.

Data released by the Global Terrorism Database shows that 34,623 people died from terror attacks worldwide in 2017. However, 71 percent of all of these deaths were concentrated in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria and Somalia.