Series of bombings in Afghanistan highlight security challenges since Taliban seized power in August.

The Afghan Taliban says it has arrested the so-called “mastermind” of a bomb attack on a mosque.

Police say he is a major ISIL (ISIS) operative, suspected of helping to kill at least 12 people in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Thursday.

Most of the victims were from the Shia Muslim Hazara community.

ISIL claimed another bomb blast on the same day which killed four people in Kunduz.

On Tuesday, schoolchildren were targeted in a mainly Hazara area of Kabul.

A United Nations report last month found that ISIL was behind more than 80 percent of attacks since the Taliban takeover last year.

So can the Taliban government leaders contain the threat?

Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom

Guests:

Faiz Zaland –  Executive director of the Democracy, Peace & Development think-tank

Rabia Akhtar – Director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Policy Research, University of Lahore

Neil Turner – Country director in Afghanistan, Norwegian Refugee Council