At least 1 dead in bombing near Kabul airport

The attack, the latest in a recent series of suicide bombings, came a day after the powerful head of Pakistan’s army, General Raheel Sharif, visited Kabul for talks meant to lay the groundwork for a resumption of peace talks with the Taliban.

In July, Islamabad hosted the first round of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, which so far have stalled.

The first meeting for talks and reconciliation will be held during the first week of January. Also six others soldiers and police had been injured in this attack, said the officials.

China today welcomed efforts by Pakistan and Afghanistan to improve their ties and working out a road map for resuming peace talks with the Taliban.

General Raheel Sharif was in Washington last month where President Barack Obama and officials pushed hard for a return to talks with the Taliban.

The Taliban has been seeking to enforce sharia law in Afghanistan and Pakistan since the 1990s.

The meeting will take place few weeks after Pakistani, Afghan leaders and Chinese and USA ministers agreed early this month to “work together to create a conducive atmosphere that encourages Taliban groups to engage in meaningful and sustained negotiations”.

Moscow, now conducting a bombing campaign in Syria it says is directed against Islamic State forces, has been concerned about the possible spread of the radical movement from Afghanistan into neighbouring states including Tajikistan or Uzbekistan.

There has been no mechanism for coordination on the border since a commission of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the coalition forces completed its mandate following the end of the International Security Assistance Force’s mission in the war-ravaged country in December a year ago.

The British and US intervention has fueled the perception that foreign powers are increasingly being drawn back into the conflict as Afghan forces struggle to rein in the Taliban.

Meanwhile, in the southern province of Kandahar, a woman distributing polio vaccinations to children was shot dead by unknown gunmen, said Samim Khpolwak, spokesman for the provincial governor.