Pentagon chief visits Kabul after deadly attack

UNITED States Defence Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Afghanistan yesterday, hours after his Afghan counterpart resigned over a deadly Taliban attack that triggered anger and left the embattled army in disarray.

Mattis, on his first visit to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief, met officials, including President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul, two weeks since the US dropped a huge bomb on Islamic State (IS) hideouts in the country’s east.

He arrived as Afghan security forces faced chaos – with the resignations of Defence Minister Abdullah Habibi and army chief Qadam Shah Shaheem – and a reshuffle of corps commanders, following fury over a Taliban assault on an army base near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday.

Gunmen in army uniforms and armed with suicide vests entered the base and opened fire on unarmed troops, in one of the deadliest Taliban attacks on an Afghan military target.

Authorities have so far ignored calls to break down the official toll of more than 100 soldiers killed or wounded.

They have been known to minimise casualties in such attacks in the past, and some officials have put the death toll alone as high as 130.

The raid, the latest in a series of Taliban assaults, underscores the insurgents’ growing strength more than 15 years since they were ousted from power by the US invasion of 2001.

Up to 10 army personnel have been arrested as suspects, a military spokesman said, amid fears it could have been an insider attack.

Afghans have slammed the government for its inability to counter the attack, though Habibi said his resignation was voluntary and compared himself to a soldier who sacrifices in battle.

“Nobody in the world has been able to prevent such attacks,” he said of the assault on the army base.

“It is an intelligence war and a war on terrorism. It’s very difficult.”

Habibi admitted the casualties were high.

Shortly after Mattis had landed, militants carried out a suicide attack, aimed at a joint US-Afghan military base.

There was no news on possible casualties after the bomber detonated at an Afghan-guarded checkpoint close to Camp Chapman, on the outskirts of Khost city, officials said.

Earlier this month, the US dropped a massive bomb on IS hideouts in the eastern province of Nangarhar and killed nearly 100 militants, according to unverified figures. – AFP