In a chronically volatile country, shock has given way to despair in Kabul and much to the consternation of the world. Quite totally incredible was the degree of deception of the Taliban, or more accurately its Haqqani network, as it perpetrated one of the worst attacks in recent memory in the capital of Afghanistan. Saturday’s peak-hour mayhem in which an ambulance packed with explosives blew up in a crowded street has killed no fewer than 100 people and wounded many more ~ 235 going by the count till Monday morning.

The outlook is chilling when the world reflects that the latest terror strike has happened a week after the outrage, albeit on a lesser scale, at Kabul’s Intercontinental hotel. The tragedy reaffirms the atrophy of the government post the pullout of the US-led NATO forces. An ambulance, the world over, symbolises the need for urgent medical attention. In Kabul, it has driven the people quicker to death even before they could realise the enormity of the tragedy. The use of an ambulance as a weapon to target civilians is despicable. Horror of horrors, the Taliban has used the vehicle to mount yet another offensive on innocent civilians. The deception was complete when it was able to hoodwink the first checkpoint; it blew up and the worst had happened by the time it could have approached the second.

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Is the attack a calculated answer to Donald Trump’s strategy in Afghanistan? If the official response of the Islamist fundamentalists is any indication, “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.” After a week in which the office of Save the Children in Jalalabad was also attacked, the western-backed government of Ashraf Ghani has faced growing pressure to improve security.

Policing is as brittle as it can be. Despite major tightening of checks, the ambulance was able to get through the checkpoints, apparently without difficulty. The suicide bombing, in one of the most heavily protected parts of the city and close to foreign embassies and government buildings, reaffirmed that the Taliban’s ability to mount deadly, high-profile attacks remains ever so undiminished. In the net, confidence in the Western-backed government has been undermined beyond measure.

Pressure is likely to mount on President Ghani to resolve the political discord with his opponents, in particular with provincial power-brokers in Afghanistan who defy the central authority. The ruling dispensation direly needs to be more focussed on security. No less a dire imperative must be political unity. The country’s overwhelming helplessness has succinctly been underscored by a shopkeeper ~ “How are we to live? Where should we go? We have no security. We don’t have a proper government. What should we do?” Neither Mr Trump nor Mr Ghani have an answer.