Afghan government asked to resign following deadly bombings

A day after the deadliest Taliban-suicide bombing in months that hit the heart of Kabul and left 103 dead, the opposition demanded the resignation of the National Unity Government-led by President Ashraf Ghani.

Following the two deadly attacks in a week, a number of politicians asked the government and top security officials to step down from their positions.

"The National Unity Government has extremely failed to perform its responsibilities," Ariana News quoted Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi, Head of the New National Front of Afghanistan, as saying. "They were supposed to resign two years ago, but they are shamelessly continuing to stick on the chairs."

Blaming the government leaders for their failure to maintain security, a member of another political party claimed that security officials were involved in political negotiations.

"Instead of preventing the deadly attacks, security officials are trying to create cases for their political opponents," said Jafar Mahdavi, a senior member of Mehwar-e Mardom-e Afghanistan.

"The security officials must resign and accept that they cannot perform these jobs," said Hashim Alokozai, Head of the Security and Defence Commission of the Upper House of Parliament. "They are busy with political parties and want to negotiate deals and our people are getting killed."

Despite harsh criticism by politicians, security officials during a press conference on Sunday said their resignation was not the solution.

Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, the chief of National Directorate of Security (NDS) claimed they have arrested about two hundred suspects in connection with the terrorist attacks in the past one week.

The NDS official Facebook page shows the Agency has prevented one suicide attack and arrested some Islamic State militants in Kabul during the last three months.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry claimed that Afghan police have foiled 30 suicide attacks in the last three weeks.

"We have foiled 30 suicide plots in the last three weeks," said Nusrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry. "The assailants have succeeded to conduct only three attacks."

The death toll in Saturday's horrific bombing has risen to 103, with 235 others injured.

The Taliban group had claimed responsibility for the bloody attack, admitting a suicide bomber blew up an ambulance laden with explosives in the central part of Kabul city.

--IANS

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