U.S. Ally Lala Kahn, Dozens Killed As Militants Attack Afghan Hospital, Funeral
UPDATE FROM SOF FRIEND MICHAEL YON
Afghanistan: Rest In Peace, Lala Khan
You may have seen news of the devastating attack in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. The target was Lala Khan, a great alley of the United States. I know Americans and Afghans who personally knew Lala Khan. His reputation as a warrior and fair man are immense.
Haji Lala Khan, a dedicated brave son of a tribal leader Haji Noor Agha Malakzai was murdered yesterday by an ISIS suicide bomber in his village of Khewa in Nangarhar province while attending the funeral of a local police Chief.
Lala Khan was closely working with CADG (Central Asia Development Group) in the east of Afghanistan by implementing the CDP (Community Development Projects) in the most remote areas and in the toughest terrains of the East. He was providing security for the American non-combat personal of CADG and on numerous occasions he recovered American taxpayers money that had been stolen by crooks.
Lala Khan helped in preventing attacks on the US Army in his region by offering development projects in remotest villages to local tribesmen. He was a great negotiator in convincing local tribes to eject Taliban and Al Qaeda from their villages and that is how he saved the lives of many American soldiers based in the Eastern parts of Afghanistan.
He was a loyal and dedicated friend of America who always welcomed American development workers with open arms to his guest house with Afghan Wonderful hospitality.
He was a member of the provincial council for Nangarhar province for the past four years where he was greatly serving the local community and he was one of the true champions of democracy in Afghanistan. In both elections of 2014 and 2019 he supported Ashraf Ghani and I can say that it was because of LaLa Khan that Ashraf Ghani made it to the presidential Palace.
Lala Khan was a tough man who lived the life of a true warrior defending his people from the aggression of Soviets and then the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
“He dedicated his life serving the needy and poor people of his province. He was a true patriot who always lived among his people and who believed in a peaceful prosperity and developing Afghanistan. His goal was to unite his people and to save Afghanistan from debacles. He worked towards a peaceful Afghanistan where all people could live in harmony.
He stood against those who were terrorizing the lives of ordinary people. He raised his voice on behalf of the weak and injustices. He opposed warlords who stole from poor people and fetched their land by force and he never bowed to those criminal warlords who intimidated the lives of his ordinary poor people,
Some criminal minded warlords of Eastern Afghanistan became his enemies. These brutal warlords are known to have links with foreign regional Intels and this is how the ISIS suicide bomber was able to cross the security personnel of LaLa Khan and killed him along with 24 of his people in a bloodbath Type of an attack in which over 80 people were also injured.
Lala Khan left behind four children and his son Tayab Khan who is 14 now will fulfill his father’s (LaLa Khan) legacy one day.
May his soul Rest In Peace
BACKGROUND: Dozens Killed As Militants Attack Afghan Hospital, Funeral RFE
Afghanistan was hit by more deadly violence on May 12 as gunmen stormed a Kabul maternity hospital and a suicide bomber killed and wounded dozens of people at a funeral in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
Three gunmen attacked the state-run hospital in western Kabul’s mostly Shi’ite neighborhood of Dasht-e Barchi, setting off an hours-long gunbattle with Afghan security forces.
Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry said 14 people were killed in the attack, including two newborn babies, and 15 others were wounded.
Security forces eventually killed all three attackers, allowing the rescue of 80 women and infants from the hospital.
A witness, Jawad Amiri, told RFE/RL that one of the attackers “was wearing a military uniform and the other two were dressed as doctors.”
“They came to the main entrance and opened fire at people everywhere around. They killed many innocent people,” he added.
Afghan officials say work at the hospital was supported by the Nobel Prize-winning international nongovernmental charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Photos shared by the ministry show Afghan soldiers carrying newborn babies from the 100-bed hospital while mothers who’d recently given birth follow close behind.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Both the Taliban and the Islamic State (IS) extremist group are active in Kabul and its surroundings. Both also frequently target Afghan security forces and civilians.
But in a message sent to RFE/RL on May 12, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied that the militant group was involved in the hospital attack.
IS has claimed responsibility for numerous other attacks against Shi’ite Muslims in the western part of Kabul.
Meanwhile, in the Khewa district of Nangarhar Province, the provincial governor’s spokesman Attahullah Khogyani told RFE/RL that 24 people were killed and more than 68 injured by a suicide bomber who attacked a funeral on May 12.
Also on May 12, a bomb planted in a cart at a market in the southeastern province of Khost killed a child and wounded 10 people. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either incident.
IS has claimed responsibility for a spate of violence in Kabul on May 11 that wounded a child and three adult civilians.
Those attacks included three roadside bombs as well as a fourth bomb placed under a garbage can in the northern part of the Afghan capital.
Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry said on May 11 that Afghan security forces arrested the Islamic State group’s regional leader for South Asia, Abu Omar Khorasani, during an operation on the northern side of the Afghan capital.