Taliban kill at least 12 in attack on Afghan military base

At least 12 people, mostly military personnel, are dead and over 30 wounded after a Taliban attack on a military base and police training centre in eastern Afghanistan, according to an Afghan official.

Some of the wounded are in provincial hospitals while the more serious cases are being treated in Kabul, said Salem Asgherkhail, head of the area’s public health department.

The coordinated assault began around 7am local time, with a car bomb that detonated at the gate of the base in Maidan Shahr, the capital of Wardak province, according to Nasrat Rahimi, the Interior Ministry  deputy spokesman.

Armed Taliban fighters then moved in, a tactic the group has used in many previous attacks.

Maidan Shahr is about 44 kilometers southwest of Kabul, along the Ghazni-Kabul highway. 

The attack comes a day after a Taliban assault in neighboring Logar province killed eight security forces on Sunday.  

The Taliban have been on the offensive in recent months, attacking targets around the country in an apparent effort to expand their influence and perhaps gain more leverage in any future peace talks. 

According to data from the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the Taliban control or contest nearly half of Afghanistan.

Since July the US has tried to restart a peace process with the Taliban. US officials have met Taliban representatives in a number of countries. The Taliban have refused to meet Afghan government officials calling them “puppets”.

US Senator Lindsey Graham in Pakistan on Sunday said President Donald Trump should meet Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan as soon as possible to reset long-difficult US relations with Pakistan and push for a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan.

US relations with Pakistan have been strained by suspicions that elements in the Pakistani establishment were aiding the Taliban, a charge Islamabad strongly denies. However, relations have appeared to improve in recent months amid efforts to push the Taliban towards a peace deal.

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies