Taliban car bomber targets NATO convoy near Kabul airport

A Taliban bomber detonated an
explosives-packed vehicle near Kabul
airport Monday, killing one civilian in
an attack targeting a NATO convoy the
day after Pakistan’s army chief visited
the Afghan capital in an effort to revive
peace talks.
Thirteen other civilians were wounded
in the early morning assault, which
occurred amid a worsening security
situation in Afghanistan as the Taliban
step up their nationwide offensive.
The explosion, which left a wreckage of
mangled and smouldering vehicles,
comes despite a renewed international
push to jumpstart stalled negotiations
with the insurgents.
“The bombing left at least one civilian
dead and 13 others wounded,” Kabul
police spokesman Abdul Basir Mujahid
told AFP.
The Afghan interior ministry said the
target appeared to be a NATO convoy. In
a brief statement, the international
military coalition said it was
investigating the incident.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid
said the insurgents were behind the
suicide attack on a foreign forces
convoy, claiming that “several invading
forces were killed and wounded”.
The Taliban are known to exaggerate
battlefield claims.
The attack comes a day after Pakistan’s
powerful army chief General Raheel
Sharif visited Kabul in a bid to prepare
the ground for fresh peace talks with the
Taliban.
“Both sides agreed that the first round of
dialogue between Afghanistan, Pakistan,
US and China will be held in January to
lay out a comprehensive roadmap for
peace,” the Afghan presidential palace
said in a statement.
Asim Bajwa, a Pakistani military
spokesman, said on Twitter that the talks
will be held in the first week of January,
but did not disclose the venue.
There was no immediate reaction from
the Taliban to the announcement of the
four-party talks.
Pakistan — the Taliban’s historic backers
— hosted a milestone first round of talks
in July but the negotiations stalled when
the insurgents belatedly confirmed the
death of longtime leader Mullah Omar.
Afghanistan sees the support of longtime
nemesis Pakistan as vital to bring the
Taliban to the negotiating table.
But despite the growing bonhomie,
analysts caution that any substantive
talks are still a long way off.
Afghan forces are currently battling to
push out Taliban insurgents who seized
large swathes of the key opium-rich
district of Sangin in southern Helmand
province.
Observers say the intensifying
insurgency highlights a push by the
militants to make more military gains in
a bid to wrangle greater concessions
during talks.
The offensive has prompted the first
British deployment to the volatile
province in 14 months.
The deployment, in addition to a recent
arrival of US special forces in the region,
comes a year after NATO forces formally
ended their combat operations in the
country.
The British and US intervention has
fuelled the perception that foreign
powers are increasingly being drawn
back into the conflict as Afghan forces
struggle to rein in the Taliban.