Taliban, now with new members on cabinet, attacked as FBI director issues warning

Taliban vehicles were the target of a Wednesday attack, a day after FBI Director Christopher Wray issued a warning saying the Taliban victory in Afghanistan could embolden U.S.-based extremists. The video above shows the scene of the attack, as well as some of Wray’s comments.

The attacks killed at least two Taliban fighters and three civilians. In one attack, gunmen opened fire at a local gas station in the provincial capital of Jalalabad. Two fighters, a gas station attendant and a child died.

Another child was killed and two fighters were wounded in a bombing of a different vehicle. A third bombing of a Taliban vehicle wounded a person nearby.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attacks. The Islamic State group took responsibility for similar attacks that killed eight people in Jalalabad last week.

The attacks come a day after the Taliban expanded their interim cabinet. The additions were notable because the Taliban once again failed to add any women to the cabinet.

“We have our brothers from other ethnicities in the Cabinet,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said. “We are trying to strengthen the cabinet day by day and women will also be appointed in appropriate sectors and we will have a day that we will announce their names here.”

The international community has said recognition of a Taliban-led government would be linked to the treatment of women and minorities.

“All the international regulations which are needed for a government to be recognized are in place,” Mujahid said. “It is the responsibility of the international community to cooperate with the Afghans and continue their assistance, recognize us in diplomatic channels and the problems and concerns that they have, they can share with us through those diplomatic channels.”

Meanwhile, back in the United States, Wray was warning of possible domestic attacks in the wake of the Taliban victory.

“When it comes to sort of homeland-based terrorist threats, we have two buckets really that we primarily focus on as the highest priority right now,” Wray testified in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee Tuesday. “People here radicalized by foreign terrorist organizations and ideologies, and then domestic violent extremists who are radicalized more by everything from racial animus all the way over to anti-government, anti-authority.”

Wray went on to say he’s “concerned” the developments in Afghanistan could bring “more inspiration to the first bucket”.

“I think we anticipate, unfortunately, growth in both categories as we look ahead over the next couple of years,” Wray said.