Khalilzad says Daesh wants to fan sectarian conflict in Afghanistan KABUL: Washington believes Daesh was behind this week’s deadly attack on a maternity hospital in Kabul, US peace envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said on Friday. Newborn babies, their mothers, and medical staff were among the 24 civilians killed in the attack on Tuesday, when three assailants, disguised as security forces, stormed the hospital and began firing indiscriminately at patients in a Shiite-dominated neighborhood of the city. While Daesh has not claimed responsibility for the assault, it said it had carried out a suicide attack in which over 30 people lost their lives during a funeral of a government commander in eastern Nangarhar province the same day. No other group has claimed responsibility for the Kabul attack, which senior Afghan government leaders said was conducted by the Taliban. The Taliban condemned both attacks and denied any involvement. Khalilzad said the US government believed the Afghan affiliate of Daesh, known as Islamic State Khorasan (Daesh-K), was also behind the hospital massacre. “The USG (US government) has assessed Daesh-K conducted the horrific attacks on a maternity ward and a funeral … in Afghanistan. Daesh has demonstrated a pattern for favoring these types of heinous attacks against civilians and is a threat to the Afghan people and to the world,” he wrote in a Twitter post. US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad’s comments blaming Daesh for the Kabul attack showed failure in efforts by President Ashraf Ghani’s government to blame the Taliban for the assault. Abdul Satar Saadat, Afghan politician Khalilzad, who brokered a US peace deal with the Taliban in February — which did not include the Afghan government — said Daesh opposed peace negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. He said the network was fanning sectarian conflict in Afghanistan, like it has as in Syria and Iraq. “Rather than failing into the Daesh trap and delay peace or create obstacles, Afghans must come together to crush this menace and pursue a historic peace opportunity. No more excuses, Afghans, and the world, deserve better,” he said. Reactions from US officials contrast with what Afghan leaders have been saying since the attacks. After the assaults, Ghani ordered security forces to switch from a “defensive” state to “offensive: position, prompting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to urge Kabul and the Taliban to cooperate against Daesh.