Afghan defense minister, army chief of staff resign over Taliban attack
Afghanistan defense minister and army chief of staff have resigned over recent Taliban attack which left several army forces dead.
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The Afghan presidential palace announced in a post on its Twitter account that President Ashraf Ghani had on Monday accepted the resignations of the defense minister and the army chief of staff.
“Defense Minister Abdullah Habibi and Army Chief of Staff Qadam Shah Shahim stepped down with immediate effect,” the presidential palace tweeted.
Shah Hussain Murtazawi, an acting spokesman for Ghani, separately told Reuters that the resignations were because of the Taliban attack on a military base in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which killed some 140 army soldiers.
The base attacked was the headquarters of the Afghan National Army’s 209th Corps, which is responsible for security in much of northern Afghanistan.
The scale of the loss of life and the apparent ease with which the Taliban militants managed to stage the attack have raised serious questions as to the state of security in Afghanistan, likely providing impetus for the resignations.
During the attack, some 10 Taliban militants, disguised as Afghan soldiers and driving military vehicles, entered the base and engaged in the carnage. They continued the attack for several hours and were not stopped until special forces arrived.
Some Afghan officials have reportedly said that a final death toll is likely to be higher.
President Ghani traveled to Mazar-i-Sharif on Saturday to visit the base. He also ordered a day of national mourning on Sunday.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has arrived in Afghanistan on a surprise visit.
It was not immediately clear who he would meet with as his peer following the resignation of the Afghan defense minister, which came on the day of Mattis’ unannounced arrival.
The US has thousands of military forces in Afghanistan. It led an invasion of the country that toppled a Taliban regime in 2001.
