Afghan army battles rising rebel attacks

WASHINGTON: Deadly insider attacks against the Afghan army jumped in the first quarter of this year as Taliban rebels took advantage of the coming American and NATO troop withdrawal, according to a US government report on Friday.

The quarterly report of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said attacks on the Afghan security forces, mainly by the Taliban rebel group, surged 37% over the JanuaryMarch period from a year earlier.

Notably, insider attacks when security forces are targeted by Taliban infiltrators within their ranks - jumped 82%, and casualties from them doubled, according to the report.

The report did not specify the overall number of casualties, saying the data is classified.

But according to coalition figures, it said, 115 Afghan military personnel were killed and 39 wounded in 31 insider attacks in the first three months of this year. But it made clear that the attacks threaten the stability of the Afghan government after the withdrawal of thousands of US troops and civilian defence contractors by September.

Al-Qaeda promises ‘war on all fronts’ with US

In an exclusive interview with CNN conducted through intermediaries, an al-Qaeda official said that “war against the US will be continuing on all other fronts unless they are expelled from the rest of the Islamic world”. The terror group said that it is planning a comeback after US forces leave Afghanistan by partnering with the Taliban once again.