As U.S. leaves Afghanistan, emboldened extremists lash out at the softest targets

Kabul — The recent attack on a school for girls in the Afghan capital left dozens of innocent children and teenagers dead. They were murdered in an act of unimaginable cruelty, simply for daring to pursue an education.     Afghanistan's government blamed the Taliban, which denied any involvement in the attack. The part of Kabul where the attack happened, home to many ethnic Hazara Shiite Muslims, has been targeted frequently by the ISIS branch in Afghanistan, including other attacks on schools.    The massacre underlined the instability in the country as the U.S. and its international partners withdraw, and Afghanistan's own security forces struggle to both contain militants on the battlefield and keep safe civilians in the cities.      

Afghan National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib told CBS News that his country would have preferred the U.S. withdrawal to come after a few more years, "when our air force would have all the capabilities that we needed and then everything else would be in line for us to take over completely." But President Joe Biden only delayed the withdrawal put into motion by his predecessor by a matter of months. The lack of U.S. air support will be sorely missed as the Afghans battle a resurgent Taliban, which continues to claim new ground every day.