The EU delegation in Afghanistan condemned on Wednesday 31 July, the attack on a bus carrying civilians in the western province of Farah. The bus hit a roadside bomb allegedly placed there by the Taliban, killing at least 34 people.
"This atrocity (...) is yet another aggression against the Afghan people and their long-held desire for peace", the delegation denounced in a statement.
This "indiscriminate attack on civilians", like the attack on a vice-presidential candidate on 28 July (see EUROPE 12306/17), "undermines current efforts to achieve a durable peace, and mars the positive achievements of the intra-Afghan dialogue held in Doha earlier this month, where Afghan representatives, including the Taliban, agreed on the need to reduce the number of civilian casualties to zero", it regretted.
The delegation recalled that the EU stands by the Afghan people in their "desire for peace".
According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA),1,366 civilians were killed and 2,446 injured in the first half of 2019, as much as by pro-government forces, largely as a result of Afghan and US air strikes, as by insurgent groups. These figures are down 27% compared to the same period last year. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)