A ceremony was held at the Eidgah mosque in Kabul on Sunday to commemorate the lives lost during the recent Paktika province attack. A number of citizens and government officials participated in the ceremony, however, presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah was away visiting the province itself.
Participants of the ceremony stressed the importance of supporting the wounded and families of victims, and they drew connections between the attacks and foreign intelligence services in the region.
The Paktika attack has prompted Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, President Hamid Karzai and now Abdullah Abdullah to travel to the province.
On Sunday, while visiting Urgoon, Abdullah said that the current and future government has the chief responsibility of protecting people’s lives.
“We saw people who had lost four of their kids in the attack,” Abdullah said. "We ask for peace from Allah, we are proud of our security forces who have always worked for bringing peace for the people, but despite the efforts of the security forces, crimes like this take place, resulting in the mourning of all Afghans.”
During his trip, Abdullah met with a number of residents of Paktika province and families of victims. Abdullah emphasized on the serious need for addressing the economic and social conditions of people in cities and villages throughout the province.
According to Abdullah’s team, he set aside five million Afghanis to help with the families of victims, and said helping the victims is the duty of the government, business community and citizens of Afghanistan.
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was the first to visit Urgoon district, and did so just two days after the incident. Ghani also promised aid to the families of the victims. Three days after the incident, President Karzai visited Paktika province and met with the families.