Dozens of troops and civilians killed in Taliban attack on Afghan airport

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

The Taliban have throughout the year focused a series of attacks against Afghan soldiers and police after North Atlantic Treaty Organisation troops handed the security operation to local forces late last year.

In response, Ghani pointed out that an offensive by the Pakistani military against Pakistani Taliban has sent an influx of Pakistanis into Afghanistan.

“There will be an investigation”, said General Daud Shah Wafadar, commander of the 205 Afghan national army corps stationed in Kandahar airfield.

A statement from the Taliban said suicide attackers armed with both light and heavy weapons had entered the base in Kandahar, one of the traditional heartlands of the Islamist insurgency, and had attacked worldwide forces and their Afghan allies.

Up to another 35 people have also been injured in the attack which was launched on Tuesday evening.

Nine Afghan Taliban militants have died.

The attack on the sprawling complex, which also houses a joint NATO-Afghan base, coincides with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s high-profile visit to Islamabad for a regional conference.

In September 2012, Taliban militants breached Camp Bastion, a heavily fortified airfield in southern Helmand province, killing two U.S. marines and destroying millions of dollars’ worth of aircraft.

The insurgents are regularly known to exaggerate battlefield claims.

The Taleban claimed responsibility for the attack, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying on Twitter that “150 Afghan and foreign soldiers” had been killed.

“Nabil’s resignation highlights the challenges Ghani faces over his diplomatic outreach to Pakistan, long blamed for the turmoil Afghanistan faces”, said Kabul-based military analyst Mirza Mohammad Yarmand.

Afghanistan’s foreign minister called on Pakistan to help restart stalled peace talks between his government and the Taliban, as he spoke at a discussion on Wednesday that risked being overshadowed by a major Taliban strike in Afghanistan.

“The emergence of newer and more threatening terrorist groups like Daesh should also strengthen our resolve against terrorism”, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister, said at the conference on Wednesday, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

The “Heart of Asia” meeting, an annual gathering of Asian and other countries to pledge support to Afghanistan, comes months after the first, inconclusive talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.