celeste ward gventer was a deputy assistant secretary of defense in 2006 and 2007. she's now at the university of texas in austin. andrew wilder is the director of afghanistan and pakistan programs at the united states institute of peace. he has worked in both countries for more than 20 years, running humanitarian organizations and doing research. we thank you both for being with us. andrew wilder, to you first. on today's bombing. these are rare, as we said, have been years since something like this has happened in afghanistan. sectarian violence on shiites. what is the significance that it's happening now? >> as if afghanistan needed a new kind of violence. we haven't seen this kind of sectarian attack in afghanistan. it's quite frequent and common in pakistan to see this kind of attack. but not in afghanistan. that's why it's very unusual. again, a coordinated attack in three cities at the same time. really unfortunate to see this kind of sunni-she a type of violence in afghanistan. the attacks have been mostly directed at official tarring hes, military targets b