Taliban Attack on Kandahar Airport Leaves At Least 19 People Dead

At least 70 people have been killed by Taliban fighters in an ongoing siege at Afghanistan’s Kandahar airport, officials say.

The ministry of defence confirmed in a statement that 37 people, including women and children and Afghan national security forces, had so far been killed, with another 35 wounded, with fighting still continuing yesterday evening.

The ministry statement said that a total of 11 insurgents had taken part in the attack.

The site in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second biggest city, contains both a civilian airport and a large military base that houses thousands of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military personnel and civilian contractors in addition to Afghan forces.

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 headquarters for the joint North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and Afghan military effort is in the airport.

“Since last two days of intense battle, between rival Taliban commanders in Shindand district, there are reports of more than 100 Taliban fighters being killed from both sides”, said Ahmadi. As Afghan troops struggled to defend Kandahar airport, they relied on help from American forces. He claimed the assault left 150 soldiers dead, but the Islamist insurgency usually exaggerates casualty claims.

The southern province of Kandahar, with the provincial capital by the same name, is a Taliban heartland.

Ghani, addressing the conference on Wednesday, had said that military operations in Pakistan had “unintended consequences”, displacing not only 350,000-500,000 refugees onto Afghan soil, but also sending militants fleeing to Afghanistan.

The attack came as representatives from more than two dozen countries met in neighbouring Pakistan at a one-day conference on improving security in Afghanistan, more than 14 years after the US-led military invasion.

Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed commitment to the peace process, with the United States and China also offering support.

Kandahar security officials put the number of attackers at 12, all of whom had been killed.

Afghan officials accuse Pakistan’s military of secretly helping the Taliban, charges Islamabad denies.

The raid was the latest in a series of battlefield victories by the Taliban who briefly seized the northern city of Kunduz in September.

This was apparently not true, as locals have reported fighting raged through the airport compound well into Wednesday, and there is still no conclusive sign that the fighting has ended outright.