El aeropuerto de Kabul bajo ataque

Afghanistan's Kabul airport under attack
Rapid response force sent to the area amid reports of gunfire and explosions at capital's international airport.
Last updated: 17 Jul 2014 04:36
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A number of fighters burst into a building just north of the airport and opened fire [EPA]

A rapid response force had been sent to Kabul International Airport after an explosion followed by bursts of gunfire were heard near the facility in the Afghan capital.

Smoke was seen rising above the airport, which is used by civilians and the military. A car had also been set on fire not far from the scene.

A police source said a number of fighters had burst into a building just north of the airport and opened fire.

"Afghan security forces are dealing with it. More information will be released as soon as we get it," said the
source, who asked not to be identified.

Jennifer Glasse, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, said: "We've heard at least two dozen explosions and a lot of gunfire. Fighter jets are circling the airport.

"There's a civilian side and a military side to the airport that houses Afghan security forces and NATO forces, the attack it seems to be targeting that side.

"This attack calls security into question. If this many fighters can get into such a secure facility, and a secure area of the airport, it raises questions as to how so many can get through a heavily fortified building.

"There are high rise buildings being built around the airport and that seems to be what has made the airport vulnerable."

The Taliban said they carried out the attack.

Planes diverted

NATO forces said they were aware of reports of an attack on the airport but could not give more details.

A Kabul airport official told the Reuters news agency all flights had been diverted to other cities.

In such circumstances, passenger planes are immediately diverted to other Afghan cities such as Mazar-i-Sharif in the north or Herat in the west.

The attack on the airport comes at a time of great uncertainty for Afghanistan as votes from the second round of a disputed presidential election are to be recounted.

The poll is meant to mark Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agenci

Militants killed after audacious attack on Kabul airport
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Afghan security personnel are seen on vehicles as an area near the Kabul airport comes under attack in this still image taken from a Reuters TV video, July 17.
Reuters 2 days ago By Abdul Saboor and Mirwais Harooni of Reuters

KABUL (Reuters) - Militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked Kabul International Airport in the Afghan capital on Thursday in one of the most audacious assaults on the facility, used by both civilians and the military, in a year.

The attack on the airport comes at a time of great uncertainty for Afghanistan as votes from the second round of a disputed presidential election are to be recounted. The poll is meant to mark Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power.

The attack lasted about four hours after four unidentified militants armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades opened fire on the airport from the roof of a building just to its north.

"Four terrorists were killed by police special forces. The area is being cleared now, there are no casualties to our forces," said Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.

The airport is home to a major operational base for NATO-led forces that have been fighting Taliban and other insurgents for 12 years and is bristling with soldiers and police, guard towers and several lines of security checkpoints.

Militants fire rockets into the airport almost every week, causing little damage, but frontal attacks on the heavily guarded facility are rare and represent an ambitious target for insurgents. The attack was similar in tactics to last year's assault on the airport, when seven Taliban insurgents including suicide bombers attacked after taking up positions inside a partially constructed building nearby.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack.

A Kabul airport official told Reuters all flights had been diverted to other cities. In such circumstances, passenger planes are immediately diverted to other Afghan cities such as Mazar-i-Sharif in the north or Herat in the west.

"Due to the closeness of the attack to the runway, Kabul airport is now closed to all flights," the official said. Planes could be heard circling above Kabul as the attack unfolded.

A Reuters witness near the scene earlier saw black smoke billowing above the airport and heard several explosions. A car had been set on fire not far from the scene.

On Tuesday, a car bomb detonated in a crowded market killed 43 people and wounded at least 74 in the eastern province of Paktika, close to Afghanistan's porous border with Pakistan.

(Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Paul Tait)

Kabul Airport Attack Comes as Pakistani Fighters Join Afghan Taliban

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Bad news for Kabul—and for Washington. According to Afghan Taliban sources, Pakistani Taliban have flooded into Afghanistan and joined the ranks of the jihad there.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Taliban attack on the Kabul airport this morning may be linked to a new and dangerous development on the ground in Afghanistan: a flood of fresh fighters from the ranks of the Pakistani Taliban, known as TTP, on the other side of the frontier.

I was able to reach a senior Afghan Taliban commander operating in Kabul as the airport attack was still under way, and he told me that “big numbers of the Pakistani Taliban have crossed the border to Afghanistan,” enabling the Afghan Taliban to “deploy rapidly in massive numbers all over Afghanistan.”

“That is why we have more manpower this year,” commander Qari Talha told The Daily Beast over his mobile phone. “We are using Pakistani Taliban in big numbers for collective attacks.” He said they had deployed on the hotly contested battlefields of Helmand province, in Kabul and in other parts of the country. “We send them for big ground attacks and spectacular attacks in cities,” he said, and current fighting in Helmand is part of that new offensive.

The strike against the Kabul airport early on Thursday morning involved four fighters armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades firing from the top of a nearby building under construction. According to statements from the Afghan government, after about four hours all of the attackers were killed and there were no government casualties. But as the battle raged near the edge of the runway all flights had to be diverted to other cities. It has not yet been determined if the attackers included Afghans, Pakistanis, or both.

“We are using Pakistani Taliban in big numbers for collective attacks.”

As The Daily Beast reported in early May, border security was badly weakened by the Central Intelligence Agency’s decision to dismantle its front-line Afghan counterterrorist forces in the southern and eastern parts of the country. The chaotic aftermath of the Afghan presidential elections has complicated the situation, and U.S. military commanders are saying American counterterrorism forces may be needed in Afghanistan long after the supposedly final U.S. troop withdrawal in 2016.

“Despite the increase in the numbers of Afghan security forces, actually the Taliban are able to penetrate very easily into Kabul and other cities,” Qari Talah boasted.

The Kabul airport handles both civilian and military flights, with military operations taking precedence, making it “a very appealing and legitimate target,” said Talah.

Another Afghan Taliban source says that the Pakistani army’s operations trying to suppress the TTP in the tribal areas along the Afghan border unexpectedly pushed more and more TTP fighters into Afghanistan, where they continued their violent jihad, seen by them as a religious duty, against Afghan forces.

The same Afghan Taliban source says that his group’s original strategy was to conserve its forces in 2014, looking forward to intensified fighting against a weaker Kabul regime in 2015 and afterward as the United States continued to draw down its forces. But the sudden influx of Pakistani fighters has led the Afghan Taliban to step up their collective attacks on multiple targets as the fighting season gets underway.

The situation is further complicated by the attitude of the Pakistani military, particularly the intelligence branch known as the ISI, which has tended to see the Pakistani Taliban as dangerous to Islamabad, which they certainly are, while viewing the Afghan Taliban as “good,” or at least as potentially useful over the long run. Pakistan traditionally has hoped to install client governments in Kabul, even if they are radical jihadis, in order to keep Indian and other foreign influence there to a minimum. Afghan officials have argued that if the Pakistanis would recognize that all Taliban are essentially the same, and essentially dangerous, the war against them on both sides of the border could be won in short order.

Retired Pakistani Army Col. Muhammad Nazir, who is familiar with operations along the frontier, says that due to the Afghan election crisis, political instability and NATO troop withdrawals, Afghanistan is weaker and the Taliban are able to take advantage. “All this boosts the morale of the Afghan Taliban,” says the colonel.

A senior Afghan security officer who does not want to be named also says the election crisis has exposed Afghan security forces to greater danger and impaired their ability to operate. “Forget about bringing peace and restoring security in the countryside,” he said. “We could not secure Kabul City.” And this after 13 years of war and American and NATO support.

What happened at Kabul airport was a classic case in point. “It was very obvious that a building under construction just next to the Kabul airport runway was an ideal spot for the Taliban,” said the security officer. Indeed, a similar attack was carried out just last year. “But who cared among the people at the Afghan interior ministry and defense ministry?”

“It is a big blow for Kabul airport and for Afghanistan, and we are sure that international airlines will stop flying and cease operations in Afghanistan,” the security officer said. Thus far there are no official indications that will happen. But the comment is a sign of the pessimism spreading through the ranks of the security forces. “The elections brought instead of stability, instability to Afghanistan,” said this official, “and it will never end.”