Dozens Killed in Major Taliban Attack on Kandahar Airfield

“Whenever there is talk about peace talks, the Taliban launch big attacks”, Kabul-based military analyst Atiqullah Amarkhil said.

Late on Wednesday, Afghan officials said at least 50 people, including women and children, had been killed along with all 14 attackers.

An Afghan soldier stands guard after clashes between Taliban fighters and Afghan forces at Kandahar Airfield on Wednesday.

The fighters were targeting foreign forces, a Taliban spokesman said in a statement.

Parties to the conflict must take all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population against the effects of attacks, UNAMA concluded. However, the Taliban soon claimed responsibility for the assault, posting a picture on their website of 10 young men with trimmed beards, Kalashnikovs (AK-47s) and matching military uniforms. “Additionally, parties to the conflict must take all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population against the effects of attacks”, the statement said. “Let us not disappoint them”, she said. “We will finish your technology and kill your power”.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousof Ahmadi denied the reports of the infighting, saying instead that the Taliban are fighting local police forces in Shindand district in Herat province.

“At around 2:20 p.m., the district center and the police headquarters fell to the hands of the Taliban”, said Attal, according to the Times.

He said Afghan National Security Forces cordoned off the school, and insurgent forces did not physically enter the airfield.

“Fighting has intensified in Helmand in recent months, with the Taliban reaching the gates of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah”, notes NYT. Blinken added that a meeting between Afghan officials and an official Taliban representative last July marked “a clear desire to return to that process”.

Kandahar is known as the birthplace of the Taliban.

Many in Afghanistan accused Pakistan of having considerable sway over the militant group.

“It is the surest way of achieving an end to the conflict and the full drawdown of US and foreign troops in Afghanistan”.

The resignation raises fresh questions over the leadership of Afghanistan’s security apparatus, which has struggled to contain a Taliban insurgency that has gained momentum since global forces ended most combat operations a year ago.

The head of Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency resigned today, laying bare disagreements with President Ashraf Ghani over his diplomatic outreach to Pakistan aimed at reviving peace talks with the resurgent Taliban. The violence has also spilled over into Pakistan.

An attack targeting Kandahar global airport in Afghanistan on Tuesday evening claimed the lives of at least nineteen people and left at least twenty other injured.