Taliban new year gift to Afghanistan: 32 security cops killed in attacks

Afghanistan began new year with intensified attacks on military bases and soldiers as Taliban claimed responsibility.

At least five government soldiers were killed after Taliban militants attacked a military base in the country’s south. Mohammad Ashraf Watandost, the police spokesman for Kandahar Province, said six soldiers were also wounded in the January 2 attack in the Maiwand district.
Watandost said the militants entered the base through an underground tunnel.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement.
Separately, Afghan border security forces foiled an attack on Italian military advisers at a base in the western province of Herat on January 2.
Noorullah Qadri, the commander of 207 Zafar military corps, said two attackers who had infiltrated the border security forces fired on the Italian advisers.
Qadri said the advisers escaped uninjured and one attacker was gunned down immediately while the other was arrested.
At least 27 members of security forces in northern Afghanistan were killed by the Taliban in a series of coordinated attacks on Tuesday, officials said, and dozens of others were wounded.
The deadliest violence took place in Sar-i-Pul Province, where the Taliban attacked Afghan security forces in three areas, killing a total of 21 people, officials said. The officials did not provide a breakdown of casualties.
Zabihullah Amani, the spokesman for the governor of Sar-i-Pul, said the Taliban had simultaneously attacked the center of Sayad District, security outposts along the highway linking Sar-i-Pul with Jowzjan, and a village with oil wells.
“It was a very strong attack,” Mr. Amani said. “Two security outposts were captured by the Taliban; 25 members of security forces were also wounded during the clashes.”
The Taliban’s main goal, he said, was to take control of the oil wells in the village of Qashqari. They did not succeed, he added.
They attacked the center of Sayad from three directions, said Hayatullah Sayadi, the district governor, killing seven local police officers and wounding eight others.
Reinforcements, including the police and intelligence chiefs of the province, were called in to help, but they too were ambushed by the Taliban. It was not clear if there were any casualties in the subsequent ambush.
Separately, in the northern province of Balkh, the Taliban struck a security outpost in the Chemtal District, killing six police officers and wounding seven others, said Rahmatullah Khan, a local police commander. “The Taliban seized all weapons and equipment in the outpost,” he said.
Last month, President Trump announced that he had ordered half of the 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan home, even as the 17-year war continues to rage and the Taliban threaten much of the country.
For many in the Afghan leadership, the news of the withdrawal was a betrayal. The timing is likely to complicate the American push for peace talks with the Taliban, which require maintaining pressure on the battlefield.
After a series of meetings recently between American diplomats and the Taliban in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, talks between the Americans, the Taliban, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates officials and Pakistan are set to take place in Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks.