Afghanistan’s nascent journalism industry “will endure,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said after 10 journalists were killed in a bombing claimed by the Islamic State.
“The independent media is a cornerstone of democracy,” Pompeo said. “Despite today’s attack, the vibrant media landscape that has developed in Afghanistan will endure, in large part due to those journalists and media professionals who tragically died in today’s attack, but whose courageous and steadfast work helped lay the foundation for Afghanistan’s thriving and resilient independent media.”
Nine journalists died in Kabul, reportedly targeted by a suicide bomber who struck as they gathered at the scene of another terrorist attack. A tenth, a reporter for the BBC, was murdered while working in eastern Afghanistan, “making [Monday] the deadliest day for media workers in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban,” according to the Guardian.
“The international community’s commitment to the Afghan people and a lasting peace in Afghanistan will not be shaken by such attacks,” Pompeo said.
The Kabul bombings were claimed by an offshoot of ISIS, just days after the Taliban announced a new spring offensive against the central government.
That belligerence comes at a novel time for U.S. policymakers. President Trump is contemplating a withdrawal from Afghanistan — at least, reportedly, he has discussed the matter with libertarian-leaning Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. That would reverse his administration’s current policy of an indefinite commitment to the country that is paired with an enhanced focus on forcing Pakistan to crack down on terrorist havens that provide a launchpad for attacks on neighboring Afghanistan.
“The president told me over and over again, in general, we’re getting the hell out of there,” Paul told the Washington Post. “I think the president’s instincts and inclination are to resolve the Afghan conflict.”
At the same time, a bipartisan group of Senate foreign policy leaders have unveiled legislation that would authorize Trump to make war on ISIS and its affiliates. If passed, that bill would put his authority to target ISIS in Afghanistan — especially following the latest suicide bombings — and elsewhere on firmer footing.
“The United States, along with our Afghan and international partners, is committed to defeating ISIS in Afghanistan, which has claimed responsibility for this attack,” Pompeo said. “We stand with the people, the independent media, and government of Afghanistan and remain committed to supporting the Afghan people’s efforts to achieve peace, security, and democracy for their country.”
But U.S. officials aren’t the only ones talking about ISIS in Afghanistan.
Russia has also aired the possibility of taking on a larger role in the country, saying that the emergence of ISIS on its periphery poses a new terrorist threat. “We must redouble our efforts to preclude the proliferation of conflicts from Afghanistan and to promote a political settlement of the Afghan crisis,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week.
That raises the possibility of Afghanistan rising in significance as a theater of competition between Russia and the United States, despite the stated focus on terrorism.
“Russia is not helping at all,” Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said Friday. “We hear this when we’re in Afghanistan, and we hear from the military leaders. They talk about the enablers — those who have the money and the capacity to be helpful but instead are really propping up the terrorist networks that are killing innocent people.”
