Taliban terror coup extends US’ horrible track record

What difference does yet another extreme Islamist terrorist bomb attack make? Especially in a country that has not known even the illusion of peace in more than 14 years? But recent outrage in the Afghan capital of Kabul was different.

The bomb did not devastate one of the usual “soft” targets – buses, schools, soccer games or open-air markets so beloved by the extremists. It took out one of the most strongly defended centers in Afghanistan: The compound that is headquarters for the special security service tasked with protecting the president and top political and military leaders of the nation.

And to maximize both casualties and feelings of helplessness, even as the cloud of ashes rose over the heart of the city, Taliban terrorists opened fire on dazed survivors with automatic weapons, according to Western reports.

The death toll stood at 64 and likely to rise, with another 347 injured.

The attack was a devastating blow to the embattled Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani. And it gave renewed credibility to the extreme Islamist Taliban movement that only a week before had announced it was going to launch a new wave of attacks in the spring.

TRENDPOST: The attack was a major humiliation for US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry has “signaled,” with Obama’s approval, US willingness to engage the Taliban in talks seeking a compromise government. But the bombing is the Taliban’s real, clear and devastating answer. And it amounts to another catastrophic policy blunder that gets barely any coverage and never any outrage.