By Ajit Kumar Singh*
NOVEMBER 14, 2016
Just after 5:30 am AST [Afghanistan Standard Time] on November 12, 2016, terrorists carried out an explosion at Bagram Airfield in the Bagram District of Parwan Province, the largest United Stated (US) military base in Afghanistan. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which is heading the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan, issued a statement that “An explosive device was detonated on Bagram Airfield resulting in multiple casualties. Four people have died in the attack and approximately 14 have been wounded.” No one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
At around 11 pm on November 10, 2016, a vehicle laden with heavy explosives detonated in the vicinity of the German Consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh Province, in Northern Afghanistan. The explosion followed an exchange of fire between the Security Forces (SFs) and the terrorists which lasted till the early hours of November 11. Though all German employees of the Consulate General remained safe, at least four Afghan civilians were killed and another 128 Afghans, including 19 women and 38 children, sustained injuries in the attack. The explosion also damaged more than 100 homes and shops. Claiming responsibility for the attack, Afghan Taliban ‘spokesman’ Zabihullah Mujahid stated that heavily armed fighters, including suicide bombers, had been sent “with a mission to destroy the German consulate general and kill whoever they found there”. Germany heads the NATO-led RSM in Northern Afghanistan.
In another major attack, at least 13 persons – seven students, one professor, two security guards of the University, and three SF personnel – were killed and another 45 persons, including 36 students and staff members and nine SF personnel, were injured, when terrorists carried out an attack targeting the well guarded American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) in capital Kabul on August 24, 2016. The attack, which commenced at 18:30 AST after the attackers exploded a car bomb at a University entry gate, stormed into the University complex and opened gunfire, lasted for almost 10 hours. SFs eliminated two terrorists, bringing an end to the attack. There were about 750 students on Campus at the time of the attack. According to reports, the attackers had made their way past the University’s armed guards and watchtowers, lobbing grenades and checking out their maps.
Manohar Parrikar has been criticised for suggesting a re-evaluation of ‘no-first-use’. But nuclear doctrines are not written in stone.
