A wounded boy recovers at a hospital after an explosion in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 19, 2019. An Afghan official says at least 66 people have been wounded in a series of explosions in the eastern province of Nangarhar as the country marks Independence Day. (AP Photo/Mohammad Anwar Danishyar)KABUL, Afghanistan - As Afghanistan mourned the 63 people killed in a suicide bombing at a Kabul wedding, a brother of the groom spoke through tears of his weariness at the bloodshed in the country and the crushing guilt he felt at having to face his neighbors, many of whom lost relatives in the weekend blast.
"Around 20 victims' families live in our very neighborhood," said 22-year-old Ramin, whose brother, Mirwais Alami, survived along with his bride, Raihana.
"We don't know how we should look at them," said Ramin, who like many Afghans uses only one name. "Maybe they don't want us, or like us, anymore."
He was drained after a day of burying the dead, which included the 8-year-old brother of the bride. The bomber detonated his explosives Saturday night in the middle of a dancing crowd in the wedding hall, wounding nearly 200 others. The attack was claimed by an affiliate of the Islamic State.
"We are just tired of this life," Ramin said of the decades of war and insurgency Afghanistan has endured. The country on Monday marked a subdued 100th Independence Day after the bombing, with President Ashraf Ghani vowing to "eliminate" all safe havens for the IS affiliate.
Many outraged Afghans are asking whether an expected deal between the United States and the Taliban to end nearly 18 years of fighting - America's longest war - will bring peace as the IS affiliate poses a growing threat.
In this photo released by the Afghan Presidential Palace, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani inspects the honor guard during Independence Day celebrations at Defense Ministry in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 19, 2019. Afghanistan's president is vowing to eliminate all safe havens of the Islamic State group as the country marks a subdued 100th Independence Day after a horrific wedding attack claimed by the local IS affiliate.(Afghan Presidential Palace via AP)"We don't care who will make a peace deal. We don't care who will come into power," Ramin said. "What we want is peace. We just want peace."
Overcome with grief, he apologized and said he couldn't say anything more.
In his own emotional interview, the distraught groom Alami told local broadcaster TOLOnews that their lives were devastated by the bombing.
"It would be better if I had died," he said. "How can I look at people?"
The IS affiliate later said the bomber had targeted a gathering of minority Shiites, whom it views as apostates deserving of death.
A sharply worded Taliban statement questioned why the U.S. failed to identify the attacker in advance. Another Taliban statement marking Independence Day said to "leave Afghanistan to the Afghans."
In their nearly yearlong negotiations with the U.S., the Taliban want the approximately 20,000 U.S. and allied forces to withdraw from the country.