Bombing at Afghan Mosque Kills Popular Religious Scholar

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/24/world/asia/afghanistan-mosque-attack.html

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KABUL, Afghanistan — A popular Afghan religious scholar who had voiced support for Afghanistan’s military and police was killed on Friday in a bombing at a mosque in Kabul, the latest among dozens of Islamic scholars targeted for death during the country’s long war.

The scholar, Samiullah Rayhan, was one of two people killed when an explosion ripped through Al-Taqwa mosque during Friday Prayer. Sixteen people were wounded, said Nasrat Rahimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs. Mr. Rahimi said the Taliban had carried out the attack.

A spokesman for the militant group denied involvement, but the attack mirrored one of the Taliban’s enduring strategies. For years, the group has targeted those with religious influence in order to exert its power far from the battlefield and mute those who would question its legitimacy.

Mr. Rayhan, 36, was an imam at Al-Taqwa mosque, a parliamentary adviser and the host of a daily religious television show. He was outspoken about supporting the families of fallen Afghan soldiers and scorned the Taliban’s strategy of suicide bombings.

A father of four, Mr. Rayhan also pushed for women’s rights, something his colleagues said might have led to his targeting.

In Afghanistan, religious scholars are often in a difficult position. If they express support for the government, they are likely to be hunted by the Taliban. If they support the Taliban, they are quick to be prosecuted by the government.

The Taliban have killed dozens of religious scholars during the nearly 18-year war. While the exact numbers of deaths are murky, a rise in such attacks in recent years has largely been attributed to the Taliban’s new leader, Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada.

Mr. Akhundzada, a madrasa leader, is considered more of a religious zealot than his predecessor, Akhtar Mansour, who was killed in an American drone strike in 2016.

The mosque attack on Friday came just weeks after the Taliban targeted the aid group Counterpart International in Kabul, killing at least nine people and wounding more than a dozen. The organization works largely on civic engagement projects, is American-led and is financed primarily by the United States Agency for International Development.

The Taliban recently rejected requests by the Afghan government and the United States for a cease-fire during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and charitable giving. The group pledged only to avoid attacking civilians during that time.