KABUL: The Kabul police chief resigned yesterday after three Taliban attacks in 10 days on foreign guest houses in the capital, while officials said Afghan forces had ousted insurgents who tried to seize former US and British base Camp Bastion in the south.
Taliban fighters breached the perimeter of Camp Bastion in the southern Afghan province of Helmand three days ago, just one month after the base was handed over to the Afghan army.
The attacks of recent days have renewed fears that
Afghanistan’s army and police are unable to secure the country.
The charity whose Kabul guest house was targeted in the latest such assault on Saturday, the US-based Partnership in Academics and Development (PAD, said on its website that three people were killed by insurgents who used guns and explosives.
Kabul’s police spokesman declined to comment on the reason for the chief’s resignation. “We can only confirm... he will not continue his job as police chief anymore,” Hashmat Stanekzai said.
Violence across Afghanistan has surged this year as the Taliban and their allies have stepped up their activities ahead of the scheduled withdrawal of most international troops by the end of next month.
Over the past 10 days, three compounds used by foreign organisations have been hit by armed attackers. In separate attacks in Kabul, two American soldiers, two British embassy workers and dozens of Afghan civilians have died.
The Taliban said on Saturday they had attacked the foreign guesthouse because they believed it to be a Christian centre. This was the second time this year the Taliban targeted a group that it said had links to Christianity.
PAD, which supports education in Afghanistan, could not be reached immediately for comment.
Meanwhile, Afghan soldiers finally ousted a group of Taliban from the former Camp Bastion. By yeterday, fighting at the base had ended and troops were clearing the area that had been seized by a few dozen insurgents, said Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the Helmand governor.
Further north in Helmand’s Sangin district, a smaller army post was attacked and 12 soldiers killed in fighting on Friday and Saturday, Zwak said.
President Ashraf Ghani, who came to power in September, has vowed to bring peace to Afghanistan after decades of conflict, saying he is open to talks with the Taliban who ruled Kabul from 1996 to 2001.
Ghani finally emerged as president after signing a power-sharing deal with his poll rival Abdullah Abdullah.
The two men claimed to have won fraud-tainted elections in a stand-off that caused political paralysis in Kabul and fanned worsening violence nationwide.
Agencies
