Kandahar air field attack leaves 50 dead in Afghanistan

At least 37 civilians and members of Afghan security forces have been killed and 35 others wounded in Kandahar after an overnight attack by Taleban militants on the city’s airport, officials said yesterday.

On Wednesday, Nabil posted a scathing post on Facebook criticizing Ghani’s visit to Pakistan for the Heart of Asia conference, which aims to bolster peace talks in the conflict-stricken country.

The assailants also took some families hostage, using them as “human shields” after storming the complex as an attempt to slow down the military’s advance.

“Fifty of our innocent countrymen, including 10 soldiers, two policemen and 38 civilians, were martyred in the attack”, the defence ministry said.

No casualties were reported among the thousands of worldwide military and contractors based at the heavily fortified site.

Eleven attackers managed to enter on Tuesday in the first enclosure of the highly secure complex which houses, besides the airport and a civilian residential area, a military base shared by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the Afghan army.

The Taliban claimed in a statement that it had killed dozens of soldiers, although the insurgent group regularly exaggerates the death tolls from its operations.

In Brussels, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation spokesman for the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan said there were no coalition casualties in the Kandahar assault.

The raid in one of the Taliban’s traditional strongholds coincided with the start of a regional security conference in Islamabad, where Afghan President Ashraf Ghani made a plea for more support from neighbors to fight the growing insurgency. A statement from the Pakistani foreign ministry said “all efforts for dialogue between Afghanistan and Taliban groups will be explored and encouraged”.

“This is the most serious attack we’ve witnessed against the (Kandahar) complex”, the official said. The airfield served as headquarters and home base for Canadians during the Afghan war.

Also on Wednesday, Taliban militants overran Khanishin district of southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, killing at least 16 security personnel.

The resignation of Afghanistan’s spy chief this week has highlighted divisions in Kabul over whether President Ashraf Ghani should involve Pakistan as he bids to revive peace talks with Taliban militants that collapsed in July.

The step up in violence compelled Ghani to change his tune and hit out at Pakistan in as strong a language employed by Karzai.

But not only does this latest attack signal the continued opposition to peace amongst some insurgents, its reputed links to Pakistan are sure to place doubt in Afghan officials’ minds about their neighbour’s willingness or ability to crack down on them.

The attack represents the enhanced push by the Taliban, who captured the important city of Kunduz a few weeks earlier.