Taliban Attacks Rock Kabul After U.S. Afghan Security Agreement

The Afghan Taliban has intensified attacks in Kabul with a series of bombings and raids targeting foreigners and locals in the capital after Afghanistan and the U.S. signed security agreements in September.

At least 10 attacks over the past two weeks have left scores dead. The latest targeted a foreign compound yesterday, killing three South Africans and an Afghan, according to Kabul police chief Mohammad Zahir Zahir. On Nov. 27, an aid agency was the target of an attack, with a Nepalese security guard injured.

The incidents have forced Zahir to quit his position, Hashmatullah Stanekzai, the police chief’s spokesman, said by phone. He didn’t provide more information. The violence comes after Afghanistan allowed international troops to remain in the country beyond 2014, after 13 years of war with Taliban and Al-Qaeda groups, by signing security pacts with the U.S. and NATO.

“The Taliban’s increasing attacks relate to the signing of the security pacts,” said Siddiq Siddiqi, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. “The signings have intensified their anger as the presence of foreign troops has always been opposed by the Taliban.”

Three Taliban militants armed with light weapons and suicide vests stormed a compound in Kabul yesterday afternoon with one detonating his device. The ensuing gun battle with Afghan forces lasted about five hours. On Nov. 27, a suicide car bomb targeted a U.K. embassy vehicle, killing a British citizen and five Afghans, and wounding 33 others, including children. Two ISAF soldiers were killed Nov. 24 in another Taliban attack in Kabul.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-30/taliban-attacks-rock-kabul-after-u-s-afghan-security-agreement.html