Gunmen attacked a Kabul hotel popular with Chinese businessmen on Monday (December 12th) afternoon – three assailants having been killed, according to the Taliban – but the death toll remains uncertain. A hospital reported three dead and 18 wounded, while the Taliban mentioned two foreigners injured and claimed that three attackers had been killed.
The NGO Emergency, which runs a hospital in Kabul where victims were transported, wrote in a tweet that it had received “21 injured” and “three were already deadwhen they arrived, without specifying whether they were the assailants. The attack on the hotel, located in one of the main commercial areas of the capital, ended with “the death of three assailants“Said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in the evening.All hotel guests were rescued and no strangers were killed. Only two foreign customers were injured when they jumped from the upper floorof the establishment, he added.
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A Kabul police spokesperson also confirmed that “three assailants were killed on the spot and a suspect was arrested», attributing the assault to «malicious elements“. In videos posted on social media, flames can be seen on the first floor and hotel residents rushing to the windows. AFP journalists were also able to see a thick plume of smoke billowing from the hotel. Several witnesses reported hearing at least five explosions and several bursts of gunfire.
The attack took place at the Longan Hotel in Kabul, a multi-storey complex popular with Chinese businessmen who have been visiting Afghanistan in increasing numbers since the return of the Taliban to power. Beijing has not officially recognized the Taliban government, but China, which shares a 76 km border with Afghanistan, is one of the few countries to have maintained a diplomatic presence there.
Beijing has long feared that Afghanistan will become a base for the Uyghur minority coming from the very sensitive Chinese border region of Xinjiang. The Taliban have promised that Afghanistan will not be used as a base by Uyghur militants. In return, China offered them economic support and investments for the reconstruction of the country.
Serial attacks
Maintaining stability in Afghanistan, after 20 years of war with the Americans and NATO forces, is Beijing’s main concern as it seeks to secure its borders and strategic investments in Pakistan, their common neighbor. The Taliban are also counting on China to turn one of the world’s largest copper deposits into a mining factory. An operation that would be invaluable in redressing the country, which is short of money and hit by international economic sanctions.
Although it holds the rights to major projects in Afghanistan, including the Mes Aynak copper mine in eastern Logar province, China has not advanced any of these projects. The Taliban say it has improved security in the country since its return to power in August 2021, but numerous bomb attacks have been carried out in recent months, generally claimed by the local branch of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS-K).
This is not the first time foreigners have been targeted. On December 2, a security officer was injured when shots were fired at the Pakistani embassy in Kabul. The Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the attack, confirming that it had targeted the head of mission. Two employees of the Russian embassy in Kabul and four Afghans were also killed on September 5 near the building, in a suicide attack claimed there too by EI-K. It was then the first attack against a diplomatic representation since the return to power of the Islamists.