Amrullah Saleh
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
September 9, 2020
Afghan First Vice President Amrullah Saleh’s office says he escaped an apparent assassination attempt in the capital early on September 9 “unharmed.”
A bomb was said to have targeted Saleh’s convoy and there are reports of at least two dead and up to 20 injured.
The incident comes with fears that increasing violence in Afghanistan could erode trust and set back planned talks to end the two-decade insurgency against the central government formed after the ousting of the fundamentalist Taliban in late 2001.
“The enemies of Afghanistan and the enemies of our leaders who want to defend this country’s national interests with their lives and souls today again wanted to attack Amrullah Saleh,” Saleh’s spokesman, Rizwan Murad, told RFE/RL. “He survived the attack by the grace of God [and] having the prayers of his people.”
Afghan officials this week postponed a scheduled trip to Doha for long-awaited peace talks with the Taliban because of logistical issues at the venue of the talks in the Qatari capital.
Both sides had indicated that talks could begin soon after they finalized a months-long prisoner exchange last week.
A spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on September 7 that both sides were making final preparations.
Two Deaths Reported
Details are still emerging of the September 9 attack on Saleh’s motorcade.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said two people were killed and 12 others wounded, but other reports cited higher casualty figures.
At least three of Saleh’s bodyguards are said to be among the injured.
“The blast occurred when the vice president’s convoy was crossing” the scene, Interior Ministry Tariq Arian said.
Reuters quoted Health Ministry officials as saying two bodies and seven injured had been transported to a local hospital.
The delayed intra-Afghan negotiations should follow on a landmark deal signed between the United States and the Taliban in February.
Under the U.S.-Taliban agreement, international forces should withdraw from Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for counterterrorism guarantees from the Taliban, which pledged to negotiate a permanent cease-fire and power-sharing deal with the Afghan government.
With reporting by Reuters
Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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