Two bodies — those of the only Sikh candidate for the Afghan Parliament, and of a shopkeeper who sold herbal medicine — were taken to Kabul. They were mourned by a couple of hundred people gathered at a temple, a nondescript two-story building in the north of the city, before the bodies were taken to be cremated.

Rawail Singh, who was in his late 40s, worked at a media company in Kabul and was an active member of the civil society scene. He was also involved in organizing a music festival in Bamian Province, west of Kabul, to promote understanding and empathy.

“A couple of years ago, Mr. Singh and I lost a friend who was a doctor in the attack on the 400-bed hospital,” recalled Omaid Sharifi, who leads ArtLords, the group of activist artists. “Mr. Singh said: ‘Omaid, do you know when would be our turn? Today we lost this friend; tomorrow or the day after it would be one of us. Who knows?’”

Mr. Singh had recently enrolled Komal in the prestigious Afghanistan National Institute of Music, where she learned to paint and play music in addition to regular fourth-grade subjects. She had just been accepted into a sitar class, a notable achievement for a student of her age.