Statement by the DPPC on the Recent Terrorist Attacks in Kabul and Helmand

The DPPC strongly condemns the recent horrifying attacks that targeted University students and journalists in Kabul and Helmand province. Our thoughts are with the victims, and we share our deepest sympathies and condolences to those who lost their loved ones in these barbaric acts.

Attacks against Afghanistan’s youth, educational institutions and free press are attacks against Afghanistan’s democracy, and the progress it has achieved in the past twenty years. This type of violence is a clear sign that the Taliban insurgents and terrorist groups it affiliates with are threatened by the freedom and progress of the Afghan people and see these positive advancements in Afghan society as existential threats to their vision of the future.

On November 2nd, three gunmen rampaged through the Kabul University, brutally massacring at least 22 students and critically injuring 27 others. On November 7th, former TOLO TV presenter Yama Siawash and two of his companions were killed in Kabul when a bomb attached to his vehicle exploded near his residence. Siawash, a new advisor to Afghanistan’s central bank, was a prominent journalist who used to host political and current affairs shows for TOLOnews. Separately, in the same week and in a similar incident, Radio Free Afghanistan’s journalist Elias Daee was assassinated in a blast in the southern province of Helmand.

Attacks on educational institutions is unacceptable and inhumane, and an attack on journalists is an assault on the freedom of press and expression. The Afghan people will not be strong armed into a peace deal that jeopardizes all of the progress they have achieved over the past twenty years. Before peace is possible, the killing of civilians and journalists must stop.