Kandahar airport siege leaves at least 50 dead

ReutersRahmatullah Nabil, head of Afghanistan’s National Directorate Of Security (NDS), shows a paper during a joint news conference in Kabul September 7, 2011.

The death toll from a 27-hour Taliban siege of Kandahar airport has jumped to at least 50, officials said Thursday, after a conference in Pakistan shored up worldwide support for reviving peace talks. The airport in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s 2nd biggest city, has for years of time of time been a serious hub for operations of worldwide forces, most of whom had withdrawn from Afghanistan by the complete of 2014.

General Rahmatullah Nabil said he did not agree with the president’s policies in recent months, without providing further details.

There has been “repeated verbal demands about my removal from the post”, he said in a letter to the president.

Relations between Ghani and the NDS have been strained since at least the fall of Kunduz, which an inquiry last month blamed on poor leadership. The Taliban held the city for several days before government troops could regain control.

Ghani later issued a statement saying he had not wanted Nabil to resign because of the hard security situation but he respected the decision.

Also on Thursday, the head of Afghanistan’s main intelligence service resigned, citing differences with President Ashraf Ghani, who assumed office a little over a year ago.

Nabil said the president’s trip was disrespectful to Afghans killed in Taliban attacks around the country because Ghani had been holding talks with government leaders in Pakistan, where the Taliban’s leadership council is based.

The militants also held hostages in a residential area, as well as seized a district in the southern province of Helmand, killing 14 Afghan security forces, reported The Associated Press.

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