The minister, Mohammad Omar Daudzai, also said the Taliban had carried out 700 attacks against the police during that period, and he blamed foreign fighters — a formulation commonly understood to mean Pakistani militants — working with Taliban forces for many of the assaults.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Sediq Sediqqi, said that 13 civilians had been wounded in Tuesday’s attack, but that none had been killed. He also said 17 vehicles had been damaged.

Image A wounded man at the site of a suicide attack on Tuesday in Kabul. Credit... Shah Marai/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the bombing in a post on Twitter. He later said in a statement that the civilian casualties had been caused by glass shattering in car windows and were unintentional.

The attack took place near a crowded intersection, Massoud Circle, opposite the American Embassy and in front of the military base, around 8 a.m., in the middle of rush hour.