Small Wars Journal

Kabul Braces for Attacks During Shiite Holiday as Rising Violence Convulses Afghanistan

Wed, 09/19/2018 - 2:16am

Kabul Braces for Attacks During Shiite Holiday as Rising Violence Convulses Afghanistan by Pamela Constable and Sharif Hassan – Washington Post

KABUL - The exercise mats of the Maiwand wrestling club in Afghanistan’s capital are still stacked up in the yard and its walls spattered with blood after a double suicide bombing killed 30 people here two weeks ago. Outside, workmen are placing heavy concrete barriers in anticipation of another such attack.

Nearby, inside a tent covered with posters of revered Shiite figures, six volunteer guards plan their night patrol in Dasht-i-Barchi, the heart of Kabul’s Shiite community — one that is increasingly under siege.

Now it is the Islamic month of Muharram, a sacred time for the Shiites that peaks Thursday with Ashura, marking the death of revered Shiite martyr Hussein in 680 A.D. It is also a date favored by the extremist Islamic State group to unleash terrorist attacks against a community it sees as heretical…

Read on.