NDS chief resigns over ‘policy differences’ with Ghani

KABUL: At least 46 security personnel, Taliban fighters and civilians have been killed in clashes in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, officials say on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, Dawlat Waziri, said that “37 people, many of them civilians”, have been killed since Tuesday.

According to the press service of the ministry, control of the area was restored around midnight local time, but other reports suggest that fighting is continuing on Wednesday with the attackers having taken hostages at a school and homes located nearby.

The brazen raid on the sprawling compound, which also houses a joint NATO-Afghan base, is the second major Taliban assault in as many days in the city recognised as the birthplace of the Taliban.

The Taliban sent 10 suicide bombers dressed as Afghan Army officers on the mission, reportedly said Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman.

Afghan and coalition officials said the attackers were well away from the runway, the main military part of the airport and installations used by foreign troops and advisers.

A report by the Institute for the Study of War explains that Taliban attacks since 2014 “were not typical of the previous two years” and particularly “high profile”.

The Taliban, who often exaggerate the effects of their attacks, claimed responsibility on their website, saying the attackers killed scores of global and Afghan troops. In addition to the 37 people killed, another 35 were injured.

Kandahar airport director Ahmadullah Faizi told AFP news agency that some passengers waiting to board a commercial flight to India had been trapped inside the airport’s civilian terminal, at some distance from the fighting, during the attack.

“The Taliban might have got weapons from a dissolved security firm responsible for the security of the airport”, Gen. Abdul Raziq told Pajhwok Afghan News.

After the conference, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani held an unscheduled meeting with Pakistan’s powerful army chief, Raheel Sharif.

The southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces, both notorious for growing poppy and militancy, have been regarded as traditional hotbeds of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Mansoor has claimed widespread backing among Taliban leaders based in Pakistan and on the battlefield, and took credit for the Taliban’s brief capture of the northern city of Kunduz in September.

The Taliban assault on one of the largest air bases in Afghanistan coincided with a regional peace conference in Islamabad, where the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani asked Pakistan to help broker peace negotiations.