Attack kills 1 as NATO chief, Mattis visit Kabul
KABUL, Sept 27, (Agencies): US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg renewed their commitment to Afghanistan Wednesday, as insurgents fired rockets that killed one person and wounded four in Kabul.
Mattis is the first member of US President Donald Trump’s cabinet to visit the country since Trump pledged to stay the course in America’s longest war.
In a sign of the nation’s continuing insecurity a volley of rockets landed on a house near Kabul international airport hours after Mattis flew in, the interior ministry said.
One person died and four others were wounded — all from the same family — in the assault claimed by the Taleban, which said on social media the missiles had been aimed at Mattis’s plane.
The Islamic State’s local Khorasan province affiliate also claimed responsibility, as security forces were locked in a stand-off with the attackers.
The unannounced high-level visit came as Afghanistan’s beleaguered security forces struggle to beat back the Taleban, which has been on the offensive since the withdrawal of US-led NATO combat troops at the end of 2014.
Mattis, along with Stoltenberg, was to hold talks with President Ashraf Ghani and other top officials to discuss the US-led NATO “train and assist” mission — designed to strengthen Afghanistan’s military so it can defend the country on its own.
At a joint news conference with Ghani at the presidential palace Mattis and Stoltenberg pledged the support of US and NATO allies to the Afghan conflict, and expressed determination to stop the country becoming a safe haven for terrorists.
The foreign assistance would give Afghan forces a “compelling battlefield advantage over anything the Taleban stands to mass against” it, Mattis told reporters.
Afghan Shiites on high alert:
Nasim Amiri quit his job selling vegetables to take up arms to defend his local mosque in Kabul, one of hundreds of civilians recruited to protect Shiite religious sites ahead of a key Islamic holy day.
Shiites across war-weary Afghanistan are bracing themselves for potential sectarian attacks as they prepare to commemorate Ashura which falls this weekend.
Taleban and Islamic State jihadists, who belong to the rival Sunni branch of Islam, have repeatedly targeted the minority Shiite community in recent years and there are fears they will strike again.
Criticised for failing to protect Shiites, who number around three million in overwhelmingly Sunni Afghanistan, the government has taken the unprecedented step of training and arming over 400 civilians to help defend mosques in Kabul.
The move, criticised by some Muslim leaders as inadequate, highlights the impotence of Afghan security forces struggling to get the upper hand in the fight against the Taleban and other Islamist groups.
Sharif vows to fight charges:
Sacked Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif appeared before an anticorruption court Tuesday, vowing to fight the allegations as proceedings begun in a trial that could ultimately decide whether he faces imprisonment.
The Supreme Court ended Sharif’s tenure as prime minister in July, banning him from holding public office following an investigation into corruption allegations against him and his family.
The case against the prime minister stemmed from the Panama Papers leak last year, which sparked a media frenzy over the lavish lifestyles and high-end London property portfolio of the Sharif dynasty.
The former premier returned to Islamabad this week to appear in the court case ordered by the Supreme Court and overseen by the National Accountability Bureau, which is expected to issue a criminal indictment against him next week.
Pakistani court indicts finmin:
A Pakistani court in a high-profile corruption case has indicted the country’s finance minister on graft charges after investigators found his assets did not match his reported income.
State media report that Ishaq Dar was present in the courtroom Wednesday when a judge read the charges against him. Dar denied the allegations.
Under Pakistan’s laws, Dar can continue to work as a minister until he is found guilty. However, opposition leaders have asked him to resign on moral grounds.
Dar has close familial ties to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was disqualified from holding office by the Supreme Court for concealing his financial assets in July.
Dar’s indictment comes a day after Sharif made his first appearance before a judge to face corruption cases.
Protesters end Darjeeling strike:
A strike that shut down India’s picturesque hill station of Darjeeling — causing violence and disruption to tourism and tea production — was called off Wednesday after 104 days, protesters said.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), a movement demanding the formation of a separate Indian state for ethnic Gorkhas in West Bengal, said it would enter into talks with the government.
“After the union home minister Rajnath Singh’s appeal, we had a discussion with senior leaders and decided to withdraw the indefinite strike from Wednesday,” GJM’s Jyoti Rai told AFP.
“We are going for talks because of the sacrifices of people in the hills and will wait for the outcome,” Rai added.
Indian troops in firefight with rebels:
Indian troops exchanged gunfire on Wednesday with separatist guerrillas in a remote northeastern region bordering Myanmar, killing or wounding several of the insurgents, army officials said.
The army was carrying out an operation against the separatist group, which is believed to have 2,000 guerrillas battling for an independent Greater Nagaland state carved out of India.
An army patrol retaliated swiftly upon coming under heavy fire from the rebels, the Indian Army’s eastern command, headquartered in the city of Kolkata, said in a statement.