BBC News
By Joel Gunter
image captionWali Yasini lost his mother in a targeted killing, one of hundreds across Afghanistan in the past few months
A year ago this week, the Taliban signed a deal with the United States designed, in theory, to pave the road to peace in Afghanistan. It committed the Taliban to preventing attacks on US forces and the US to withdrawing its remaining troops from the country. It did not commit the Taliban to a ceasefire with respect to Afghanistan s government, or its citizens.
One Sunday morning last month, Qadria Yasini got ready as usual for work. She put on a new coat and woke her son Wali to say that she had left some money for food. Her driver wound through the Kabul neighbourhood on the way to the office, stopping to collect Yasini s friend and fellow Supreme Court judge, Zakia Herawi.
A year of violence on the road to peace
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Afghanistan: A year of violence on the road to peace
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Judge Kadria Yasini, 53, drew her handbag to her chest as she was shot in Kabul
Shots lanced her bag, pierced her chest and left her in pool of blood at the scene
Fellow judge and victim Zakia Herawi, 47, was shot in the face, neck and chest
Assassinations come as the Taliban increasingly target the Afghan liberal elite
High ranking Taliban officials are engaged in peace talks with US officials in Qatar but footmen on Kabul s streets continue to kill with impunity
Women, journalists and progressives gunned down as killings target Afghan civil society Saphora Smith and Ahmed Mengli
A slew of assassinations has struck Afghanistan, targeting mainly prominent women, journalists and other progressives.
The wave of targeted killings has stoked fear among Afghan intellectuals and heightened a general sense of anxiety about what the future holds in the battle-scarred nation.
As of Jan. 20, 40 people had been killed so far this year, according to Afghan Peace Watch, a nonprofit research and media organization, in addition to more than 130 individuals in the last three months of 2020.
The violence comes as fragile negotiations between the U.S.-backed Afghan government and Taliban insurgents to end the country’s decades-long conflict are underway in Qatar, with the government pushing for a ceasefire. It may also present a challenge for the Biden administration as it takes office just months before a slated May deadline for remaini