Explosion near Kabul airport

KABUL-At least five people were killed when a auto bomb exploded near the entrance of Afghanistan’s main global airport on Monday, continuing a wave of violence that has left more than 50 people dead in Kabul since last week.

“We are aware of the reports and trying to ascertain the details”, Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said. “We need to win the hearts of people, then we can rule their hearts”, he said.

The Afghanistan government too has admitted that it has no control over the Taliban and could only hope that they can bring the group on board to talk peace.

Ghani had telephoned Nawaz to discuss possible resumption of peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban.

Afghan civil society members put up posters against Pakistan in the ruins of a destroyed market after the blast of a truck bomb during a vigil for victims of Friday’s multiple attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, August 8, 2015. A North Atlantic Treaty Organisation coalition soldier and eight Afghan contractors were killed in the attack, in one of three attacks that shocked the capital Friday.

The Taliban said they were behind the academy attack in which a person dressed in police uniform mingled with cadets returning from their weekend break.

Afghanistan has been attacked yet again and it is a clear signal that there is no unity among the Taliban. Mansour and his two newly named deputies – influential religious leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Sirajuddin Haqqani – are all seen as close to the Pakistani military establishment, the Taliban’s longstanding shadowy godfather.

Chief of the Haqqani militant network and father of Sirajuddin Haqqani, Jaluluddin Haqqani, died almost a year ago of natural causes and was buried in Afghan province of Khost, according to reliable sources among the Afghan Taliban.

“I agree that Mullah Omar’s family has yet not endorsed the election of Mullah Mansoor but I think this is not a serious issue as the whole movement and those who had been empowered by the “Amirul Momineen” (Mullah Omar) now stand with the new leader”, he said. The disclosure of his death, later confirmed by the Taliban, triggered an internal succession dispute and raised questions about the future direction of the insurgency.

The United Nations said Wednesday that almost 5,000 civilians had been injured or killed in the first six months of 2015 as a result of government fighting with the Taliban and Islamic State militants – the most since the world body started recording in 2009.

Ghani said the recent attacks showed “the war has changed shape”. There was no immediate evidence to verify the group’s claim.