Taliban attack major NATO base in Afghanistan

Gunmen on Wednesday set off a car bomb and fired rockets at a Nato base in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, as a soldier with the alliance died from injuries suffered in an attack in the same region.

Responsibility for the brazen daylight attack on the Jalalabad air base was claimed by the hardline Islamist Taliban.

Several assailants were killed during the attack and two service personnel were injured, the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

“Jalalabad airfield is under attack,” Isaf spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Iain Baxter told a news agency as the battle was under way. A local official said at least six insurgents were involved in the raid and that all had been killed.

The assault came just days before US General David Petraeus is due to take up his post as Nato commander in Afghanistan, after warning of a “tough fight” ahead in the nine-year conflict.

Concerns about the progress of the war against the hard line Taliban have mounted following the dramatic sacking of Petraeus’s predecessor, US General Stanley McChrystal, and an increasing death toll among foreign troops.

The dramatic surge in military deaths has raised concerns over what many think is the Taliban gaining strength despite the deployment of thousands of US reinforcements.

Isaf announced the death of its 102nd soldier this month, saying he died on Wednesday from injuries suffered in an attack in eastern Afghanistan.

Hundreds of Nato and Afghan troops have been hunting Taliban insurgents in a major assault in the mountains of Kunar, in the east of the country close to the border with Pakistan.

In a telephone call to a news agency, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack in Jalalabad – the latest strike against Nato bases in Afghanistan in recent weeks.

An Isaf statement said, “Afghan and Isaf forces repelled a number of insurgents when they attacked Jalalabad airfield this morning using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, rocket-propelled grenades, and small arms fire.”

Afghan officials say militants receive training in Al-Qaeda-run safe havens on the Pakistan side of the border. However, Islamabad denies the charges.

With 2,700 military and civilian personnel Jalalabad is one of Nato’s largest bases in Afghanistan, after Kandahar and Bagram, which have both been attacked by insurgents in recent months.

Petraeus, who is expected in Afghanistan at the weekend, sought to reassure an anxious US Congress on Tuesday that the Nato-led troops are making headway in Afghanistan, amid fraying public support for the war.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1st, 2010.