Qualla: May 2020 Afghanistan Attacks

May 2020 Afghanistan Attacks: Introduction

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

They came to kill the mothers. That was the conclusion of Frederic Bonnot, head of programs for Medecins Sans Frontieres in Afghanistan, after he walked through the maternity ward of Ataturk Children's Hospital on May 13, 2020 -- the day after three gunmen in police uniforms had entered the ward and opened fire. Walls sprayed with bullets, blood on the floors, sixteen mothers dead in their beds. The attack was not an isolated atrocity. It was the centerpiece of a month in which violence surged across Afghanistan, barely three months after the United States and the Taliban had signed a peace agreement in Qatar that was supposed to end the war.

May 2020 Afghanistan Attacks: A Peace Deal in Name Only

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On February 29, 2020, the United States signed an agreement with the Taliban in Qatar, setting conditions for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. The deal was meant to reduce violence. It did the opposite. In the 45 days following the agreement -- from March 1 to ...

May 2020 Afghanistan Attacks: The Blood-Soaked Twelfth

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

At 10 AM on May 12, three gunmen wearing police uniforms walked into Ataturk Children's Hospital in Kabul. They passed other wards without stopping and headed directly to the maternity ward, where they began shooting women in their beds. Twenty-four people were killed, including ...

May 2020 Afghanistan Attacks: Blame and Denial

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Who was responsible? The answer depended on whom you asked, and the disagreement itself became a weapon. The Afghan government blamed the Taliban and ordered the military to resume offensive operations. Vice President Amrullah Saleh said he had evidence the Taliban had plotted th...

May 2020 Afghanistan Attacks: A Month Without Mercy

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The killing did not stop on May 12. On May 14, a suicide truck bomber struck near a court in Gardez, killing five civilians and injuring 29. On May 17, the Taliban attacked a checkpoint near the Mes Aynak copper mine in Logar Province, killing eight security guards. The next day,...

May 2020 Afghanistan Attacks: The Weight of Numbers

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A bus carrying employees of the Khurshid TV news station was bombed in Kabul on May 30, killing reporter Mir Wahed Shah and technician Shafiq Amiri. ISIL claimed responsibility, calling the station "loyal to the Afghan apostate government." It was the second deadly attack on Khur...