Taliban militants intensify activities in S. Afghanistan

The resignation of Rahmatullah Nabil comes as Afghanistan grapples with a string of major Taliban attacks, including a 27-hour siege of Kandahar airport this week, which killed at least 50 people.

Afghan troops didn’t gain control of the area until Wednesday night, and the fighting shut down the airport, leaving some passengers trapped in the terminal until the fighting ceased.

A group of suicide bombers dressed in military uniform and bearing rocket-propelled grenades, small arms and hand grenades entered into the airport on Tuesday afternoon.

The Taliban said it carried out the attack and is holding hostages in homes and at a school, the BBC reported. The sprawling airport has a military and a civilian section, as well as a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation base.

The assault underscores the Taliban’s strength as Afghanistan’s government and USA forces aim to bring the group back to peace talks 14 years after an invasion that has killed more than 2,200 American troops and cost taxpayers more than $700 billion.

Meanwhile, reports from Afghanistan’s western Herat province said at least 100 insurgents were killed in clashes between rival Taliban factions there.

Afghan security forces at the entrance of Kandahar Airport on Wednesday.

Afghan and coalition officials said the attackers were well away from the runway, the main military part of the airport and installations used by foreign troops and advisers.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, which put the death toll at 54, said the insurgents opened fire in the bazaar, killing and injuring several civilian shopkeepers and their customers. “Preliminary information showed that 37 civilians were killed and 18 others wounded”, a security source told Xinhua anonymously.

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

“This is the most serious attack we’ve witnessed against the (Kandahar) complex”, which also houses a joint Nato-Afghan base, the official said.

The raid in one of the Taliban’s traditional strongholds coincided with the start of a regional security conference in Islamabad, where Afghan President Ashraf Ghani made a plea for more support from neighbours to fight the growing insurgency.

The heavy clashes which broke out Tuesday evening also left nine militants and eight security force members dead.

Ghani’s willingness to visit Afghanistan’s neighbor signaled a renewed push to mend badly frayed cross-border ties, which could help jumpstart long-stalled peace talks with the insurgents. Some degree of fighting continued Wednesday, but it is unclear if the Taliban threat has ended.