Taleban assault on Afghan airport kills 37

Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers stand guard in front of a shop burned during the Taliban attack on Kandahar Airport in Kandahar, December 9, 2015.

More than 60 people were killed in the Kandahar airport siege that started late on Tuesday and lasted for more than 24 hours, said an official on Thursday.

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

Ties between Ghani and Nabil have been strained since the Taliban’s three-day capture of Kunduz city in September, which marked their biggest success in 14 years of war.

Taliban militants have intensified activities in their former strongholds across Afghanistan over the past months.

Women and children were among them, he said, adding that US troops were advising Afghan forces in the battle. The coalition said conducted “force protection measures to ensure all service members and civilians at the airport remained safe”.

It said a mopping-up operation was underway to check for any additional attackers and secure the area.

“We’ll be reviewing all different options when it comes to supporting the fight against terrorism around the world and this will be no different”, the minister said.

U.S. Army Col. Michael Lawhorn said the Taliban “never physically entered the airfield” in Kandahar, but fired toward the air base from positions inside a nearby school.

In a separate incident in neighbouring Helmand province, where the Taliban has been increasing pressure for weeks, insurgents captured the district of Khanishin, a major control point for drug smuggling routes through the south.

The attack is seen as a show of the Taliban’s mobility and flexibility as key regional leaders attend a conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, called the Heart of Asia.

In a statement after a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Islamabad gathering, the U.S., Pakistan and Afghanistan expressed support for resuming Kabul-Taliban talks “immediately”.

Several NATO military installations share the area with the civilians, making it a ripe target.

The UN mission reiterated that global humanitarian law, which applies to all parties to the conflict in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, prohibits attacks against civilians at any time and in any place.

Sharif also spoke of Pakistan’s aim to repatriate the 2 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, some of whom have been in Pakistan for decades.

The Taliban spokesman, Ahmadi, confirmed the seizure of the district.