KABUL - Taliban Islamist fighters killed at least eight Afghan security force members and four civilians, as well as wounding more than 50 civilians, by blowing up a car bomb in central Ghazni province on Sunday, government officials and the Taliban said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for detonating the bomb near the National Directorate of Security (NDS) compound in Ghazni city during Sunday morning’s rush hour. “Dozens of NDS officers were killed or wounded,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.
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Arif Noori, a provincial government spokesman in Ghazni, confirmed eight members of the NDS and four civilians died in the blast, with more than 50 civilians injured. “Many injured people were being rushed to the hospital,” he said.
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It wasn’t immediately clear whether the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.
The blast in a crowded area of Ghazni city was the latest in a wave of near-daily attacks by the Taliban, who now hold sway over about half of Afghanistan and continue to intensify attacks on Afghan forces despite increased efforts towards a peace agreement to end the 18-year war.
KABUL - Taliban militants headed into cities across Afghanistan on Sunday as they celebrated their Eid ceasefire with feasts and selfies, raising questions about what happens when the ceasefire ends at midnight (1930 GMT).
President Ashraf Ghani said he would extend a government ceasefire on Saturday and urged the Taliban to do the same, winning praise at home and international backing, but critics said his overtures had allowed the Taliban to pour into cities unchecked.
The Taliban said there would be no extension.
Ghani had committed “a grave mistake” by allowing Taliban fighters to enter government-controlled areas, said Amarullah Saleh, a politician and former head of the National Directorate of Security.
“We don’t have mechanisms in place to mitigate the breach of ceasefire by the Taliban,” Saleh told us at Reuters.
Members of parliament opposing Ghani’s move said he had not consulted politicians and would be left with no recourse if the Taliban rejected his impromptu request.
A senior Western diplomat in Kabul said Ghani’s decision was “a bold move” but questioned what happens if the Taliban do not extend their unprecedented halt in hostilities against government forces.
“The consequences could be disastrous,” he said.
The Taliban said their members were expected to leave government-controlled areas before sunset.
A suicide bombing in Jalalabad, close to the governor’s office in Nangarhar province, killed at least 18 people on Sunday and wounded scores, an official and doctor said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility.
A car bomb killed 36 people at a gathering of Taliban and Afghan armed forces in the same province on Saturday. Islamic State, not covered by the government ceasefire, claimed responsibility for that attack.
FEASTS AND MUSIC
Over the weekend, ecstatic men and children crowded around the soldiers and Taliban fighters, some of whom had checked in their weapons at the entrances to cities, and urged them to turn their ceasefire into a permanent peace.
Governors and senior government officials hosted small feasts, played music to welcome the militants, coinciding with the close of the month-long Ramadan fasting season.
“There is no intention to extend the ceasefire,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told us at Reuters. “...Our normal operations will start tomorrow (Monday).”
Ghani’s office has yet to declare a new timeframe for the extended government ceasefire.
Western diplomats based in Kabul said they were issuing fresh travel warnings for the whole country.
“The Taliban can always use a ceasefire as an opportunity to attack foreigners,” one Western diplomat said. “Nobody has any clue how many Taliban militants are now hiding in civilian areas.”
Taliban walk as they celebrate ceasefire in Ghanikhel district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan June 16, 2018.REUTERS/Parwiz
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, echoing Ghani’s announcement on Saturday, said peace talks would have to include a discussion on the role of “international actors and forces”.
“Ghani has full blessings of the U.S. administration and it is crucial for the U.S. officials to prove that (U.S. President Donald) Trump’s policies are working and talks with the Afghan Taliban are imminent,” said a senior diplomat who met Afghan officials on Sunday to monitor the chance of back-channel talks with Taliban leaders.
“POSITIVE RESPONSE”
The United States wants Pakistan, which it accuses of harboring Afghan Taliban commanders, to exert more influence on the group to bring it to the negotiating table.
The only time direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have been held, in 2015, they broke down almost immediately.
The Taliban are fighting U.S.-led NATO forces, combined under the Resolute Support mission, and Ghani’s U.S.-backed government to restore sharia, or Islamic law, after their ouster by U.S.-led forces in 2001.
But Afghanistan has been at war for four decades, ever since the Soviet invasion in 1979.
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“What we witnessed over the last two days was an overwhelmingly positive response by all Afghans to peace,” Lt-Colonel Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for Resolute Support and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, told Reuters.
“Not even the attack on peace yesterday in Nangarhar by the enemies of Afghanistan will slow the nationwide momentum or quiet the celebration of a long-overdue cessation of hostilities and a chance for lasting peace.”
The Taliban roam huge swaths of the country and, with foreign troop levels of about 15,600, down from 140,000 in 2014, there appears little hope of outright government victory.
A Taliban suicide bomber dressed as a laborer blew himself up at the NATO air base at Bagram north of the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, killing four Americans and wounding at least 17 people in one of the bloodiest attacks against U.S. forces since President Barack Obama took office.
Two U.S. military service members and two U.S. contractors were killed, and 16 other U.S. service members were wounded, along with a Polish soldier who was part of the NATO mission, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement.
"For those who carried out this attack, my message is simple. We will not be deterred in our mission to protect our homeland and help Afghanistan secure its own future," Carter said.
It was the deadliest attack on U.S. soldiers in the country since a suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed six American troops on patrol near Bagram in December 2015.
Carter said the Pentagon will investigate Saturday's attack to determine what steps could be taken to improve protection for the base.
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Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers keep watch outside the Bagram Airfield entrance gate, after an explosion at the NATO air base, north of Kabul, Afghanistan November 12, 2016. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani
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The attack, which was claimed by the Taliban, underlines the foreign policy challenge that will face U.S. President-elect Donald Trump when he takes office in January.
President Barack Obama had originally hoped to have all U.S. forces out of the country by the end of his term, but was forced to abandon that goal as Afghan forces struggled to contain the Taliban insurgency.
Under current plans, 8,400 U.S. troops will remain as part of the Resolute Support operation and a separate U.S. counterterrorism mission after Obama decided to slow down a planned reduction of the force, leaving it to his successor to decide future strategy.
Waheed Sediqqi, spokesman for the Parwan provincial governor, said the bomber managed to enter the heavily protected site, the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan, and was standing in a queue with Afghan laborers when he detonated a suicide vest.
The NATO-led Resolute Support mission response teams at the airfield were treating the wounded and investigating the incident.
It follows a suicide attack on the German consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif late on Thursday night that killed four people and wounded more than 100 others. That attack was retaliation for air strikes near the northern city of Kunduz last week which killed more than 30 civilians.
The Taliban's spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Saturday's attack, which he said had been planned for four months, had caused heavy casualties, killing 23 Americans and wounding 44. The movement often exaggerates the number of casualties caused by its operations.
