Taliban's bloodbath shudders war-torn Afghanistan

Corona or no corona, the blood thirsty terrorists continue to consume human lives in Afghanistan. If people were under any illusion that peace would return to Afghanistan thanks to the US deal with the Taliban and the Afghan government - which was more of a Trump exigency than the regional need - the latest attacks on mothers and children of a maternal clinic in Kabul are just a reminder of the futility of such positivity.

Three gunmen attacked a hospital that houses a maternity clinic in Kabul on Tuesday, May 12, killing at least 16 people, including two newborn babies. Soldiers raced out of the hospital carrying infants wrapped in bloodstained blankets to waiting ambulances, after the attackers rampaged their way through the wards. The Kabul attack began in the morning when at least three gunmen wearing police uniforms entered the Dasht-e-Barchi hospital, throwing grenades and shooting. Security forces killed the attackers by the afternoon, three hours after the carnage began. "The attackers were shooting at anyone in this hospital without any reason.

It's a government hospital, and a lot of people bring in their women and children for treatment," said Ramazan Ali, a nearby vendor who saw the start of the attack. And this is the supposed to be the holy month of Ramzan! The 100-bed government-run hospital hosted a maternity clinic run by Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Just hours before the attack, MSF had tweeted a photo of a newborn in his mother's arms at the clinic after being delivered safely by emergency caesarean section. The neighbourhood is home to many of Afghanistan's Hazara community, a mostly Shia Muslim minority that has been attacked by Sunni militants from Islamic State in the past, including at a March ceremony commemorating the death of one of its leaders.

These vampires did not spare even the recovery room where the mothers are taken soon after delivery. The attack targeting the most vulnerable of civilians, including children just hours old and exhausted new mothers, caused a wave of horror and anger across Afghanistan. Ministry of Interior photos showed two infants lying dead inside the hospital. An image showed a woman who had been killed lying on the ground still holding tightly to her baby, who a nurse in the unit later confirmed had survived and had been moved to an intensive care unit at another hospital.

Since a February troop withdrawal agreement signed between the US and the Taliban, talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have broken down over a prisoner swap and violence has continued unabated. The so-called peace agreement was aimed at ending more than 18 years of war since US-led forces ousted the Taliban from power following the 9/11 attacks on the US, whose mastermind Osama Bin Laden had been given sanctuary by the hard-line Islamist group. Tens of thousands of people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict. Many more have been injured or displaced from their homes. Now the Afghan government has resolved to hit back, and the Taliban has warned of consequences claiming innocence. Who believes in the Taliban or the other Sunni militant Islamic forces? Afghanistan is born to bleed. Donald Trump has blood on his hands on this count too, anyway!