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Taliban attack airport, base in east Afghanistan
Source: Agencies |
November 13, 2010, Saturday
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TALIBAN insurgents attacked the main airport and a foreign military base in Afghanistan's east today, one of three incidents in 24 hours that marked a sudden upswing in violence.
In an apparent demonstration that the insurgency has not been weakened despite NATO-led forces saying they have made gains, insurgents mounted attacks in Jalalabad in the east and northern Kunduz today, as well as in the capital Kabul yesterday.
The attacks will likely send a clear message to NATO leaders who will gather for a summit in Lisbon next week that the security question in Afghanistan is still far from resolved and that the Taliban remain a formidable enemy.
The spike in violence could not come at a worse time for European NATO leaders, who are feeling increasing pressure at home amid sagging support for the drawn-out war.
Today's attacks in Jalalabad and Kunduz also came on the day that marked the ninth anniversary of the Taliban being overthrown in Kabul by US-backed Afghan forces for harboring al Qaeda before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The spike in violence also comes as US President Barack Obama is due to review his Afghanistan war strategy next month.
His commanders have been talking up recent successes and he remains committed to starting a gradual troop drawdown from July 2011, but increased violence would send a terrible message after Obama's Democrats were mauled in mid-term elections last week.
It also comes as acceptance of the need for a negotiated settlement grows, with peace talks being approached gingerly.
Violence is at its worst across Afghanistan since the Taliban were overthrown in 2001, with civilian and military casualties at record levels despite the presence of 150,000 foreign troops.
In Jalalabad, at least eight insurgents, including two suicide bombers, attacked a forward operating base run by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which shares the main airport in the key eastern city near Pakistan.
Smoke was seen rising from the airport and explosions and gunfire were heard. Helicopters flew overhead during the attack and the bodies of at least one suicide bomber and one other attacker were seen near the airport.
"We killed six insurgents, two with suicide vests," a spokesman for ISAF said.
ISAF said in an earlier statement that at least eight insurgents had been killed. Afghan and ISAF troops responded after coming under small-arms fire, the coalition said.
A witness said the bodies of three fighters, dressed in Afghan army uniforms and carrying rocket-propelled grenades, small arms and a heavy machinegun, were lying near the base.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said by telephone from an undisclosed location that 14 suicide bombers were involved in the attacks and that as many as 30 foreign soldiers had been killed. The Taliban often exaggerate the details of attacks and play down the numbers of their own casualties.
In Kunduz, which has become a jumping-off point for attacks in the north over the past year, a bomb hidden on a motorcycle killed at least eight civilians and wounded 18, a district official said.
District chief Ayub Haqyar said an Arbaki, or local militia, leader had been the apparent target of the attack in the Emam Sehab district of Kunduz.
Haqyar said the Arbaki commander was among the dead. He said the bomb had gone off in a crowded market and could have been detonated remotely.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Kunduz attack, although Haqyar said it had likely been carried by "enemies of Afghanistan", a term commonly used to describe the Taliban.
Yesterday, a suicide car bomber hit a convoy of Afghan and ISAF troops on Kabul's outskirts, the first attack in the capital in three months. Two soldiers were wounded.
In an apparent demonstration that the insurgency has not been weakened despite NATO-led forces saying they have made gains, insurgents mounted attacks in Jalalabad in the east and northern Kunduz today, as well as in the capital Kabul yesterday.
The attacks will likely send a clear message to NATO leaders who will gather for a summit in Lisbon next week that the security question in Afghanistan is still far from resolved and that the Taliban remain a formidable enemy.
The spike in violence could not come at a worse time for European NATO leaders, who are feeling increasing pressure at home amid sagging support for the drawn-out war.
Today's attacks in Jalalabad and Kunduz also came on the day that marked the ninth anniversary of the Taliban being overthrown in Kabul by US-backed Afghan forces for harboring al Qaeda before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The spike in violence also comes as US President Barack Obama is due to review his Afghanistan war strategy next month.
His commanders have been talking up recent successes and he remains committed to starting a gradual troop drawdown from July 2011, but increased violence would send a terrible message after Obama's Democrats were mauled in mid-term elections last week.
It also comes as acceptance of the need for a negotiated settlement grows, with peace talks being approached gingerly.
Violence is at its worst across Afghanistan since the Taliban were overthrown in 2001, with civilian and military casualties at record levels despite the presence of 150,000 foreign troops.
In Jalalabad, at least eight insurgents, including two suicide bombers, attacked a forward operating base run by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which shares the main airport in the key eastern city near Pakistan.
Smoke was seen rising from the airport and explosions and gunfire were heard. Helicopters flew overhead during the attack and the bodies of at least one suicide bomber and one other attacker were seen near the airport.
"We killed six insurgents, two with suicide vests," a spokesman for ISAF said.
ISAF said in an earlier statement that at least eight insurgents had been killed. Afghan and ISAF troops responded after coming under small-arms fire, the coalition said.
A witness said the bodies of three fighters, dressed in Afghan army uniforms and carrying rocket-propelled grenades, small arms and a heavy machinegun, were lying near the base.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said by telephone from an undisclosed location that 14 suicide bombers were involved in the attacks and that as many as 30 foreign soldiers had been killed. The Taliban often exaggerate the details of attacks and play down the numbers of their own casualties.
In Kunduz, which has become a jumping-off point for attacks in the north over the past year, a bomb hidden on a motorcycle killed at least eight civilians and wounded 18, a district official said.
District chief Ayub Haqyar said an Arbaki, or local militia, leader had been the apparent target of the attack in the Emam Sehab district of Kunduz.
Haqyar said the Arbaki commander was among the dead. He said the bomb had gone off in a crowded market and could have been detonated remotely.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Kunduz attack, although Haqyar said it had likely been carried by "enemies of Afghanistan", a term commonly used to describe the Taliban.
Yesterday, a suicide car bomber hit a convoy of Afghan and ISAF troops on Kabul's outskirts, the first attack in the capital in three months. Two soldiers were wounded.
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