Despite the ‘peace process’, Afghanistan’s anguish endures

Many terrible crimes have been perpetrated in Afghanistan’s 42 years of war. Yet the attack on the maternity wing of a Kabul hospital on 12 May was unprecedented and particularly devastating. Even in a country where bloodshed has become grimly familiar, this attack was unbearable. The gunmen had passed through general wards to kill mothers: women who were pregnant, giving birth or with their newborns. They killed 24 people; apart from one…