Importing Instability

A successful presidential election and a quiet winter had aroused hopes that the insurgency in Afghanistan might finally be waning. But that was until a recent upsurge in violence was punctuated by a suicide bombing last week that killed 20 people, including Kabul's chief of police, during a funeral procession at the Abdul Rab Akhundzada Mosque in Kandahar. The horrific attack was notable not only for its death toll: the funeral was for Maulavi Abdul Fayaz, a prominent anti-Taliban cleric murdered by suspected Taliban gunmen days earlier, and the bomba mixture of explosives and ball bearingswas more sophisticated than those used...