7 killed in terror attacks in Afghanistan; the failure of US-Taliban talks

Kabul: 7 people, including four civilians, were killed in the suicide blast and firing by the terrorists, in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul. The Afghan agencies claimed that hundreds of lives were saved because of the timely action, by the Afghan security agencies. There is a strong possibility that the Taliban, agitated because of the failure of talks with the United States, have carried out this attack.

Talks were scheduled to be held in the last week, between Taliban and the US special representative Zalmay Khalilzad. The Afghan government had demanded to include a few women, as representatives of the Afghan government. The United States had accepted the demand made by the Afghan government. But the Taliban withdrew from the talks, as the inclusion of women was not acceptable to them. Therefore, the talks with the United States failed, for the second consecutive time.

Within a few hours of this development, terrorists attacked the 18 storeyed building, of the Information and communication ministry, in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul. After a suicide blast by a terrorist, four other terrorists tried to enter the building. The conflict between the Afghan military and the terrorists continued for a long time. Three soldiers and four civilians were killed in the conflict. A minimum of 2,700 employees and civilians were present in the building at that time. The security agencies claimed that major casualties were averted because of their timely action, against the terrorists.

Afghanistan President, Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack, in strong words. Any organisation has not accepted the responsibility for the attack. But there is a strong prediction that the Taliban is responsible for the Saturday attack. Only last week, the Afghan Taliban had declared to start a major offensive. Following that, the Taliban initiated attacks on the Afghanistan military, in Northwest and Southern Afghanistan. Taliban has succeeded in gaining control over some northern, western cities. Whereas, the Afghan military has started targeting the Taliban terrorists with airstrikes in the southern region. The conflict is likely to escalate shortly.

Meanwhile, last year, 3,804 civilians had been killed in the blasts, carried out by Taliban, IS and other terror organisations in Afghanistan. At the same time, the Taliban terrorists have claimed to have acquired a large portion of Afghanistan.