The Afghan minister of defense and army chief of staff have resigned over a major Taliban assault on an army base, the president's office says. The news came as US Secretary of State Jim Mattis arrived in the country.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Sadiq/AP Photo/R. Gul
Advertisement
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Monday accepted the resignations of both the defense minister and the army chief of staff following a Taliban attack last week that claimed the lives of scores of government soldiers at a northern army base.
"Defense Minister Abdullah Habibi and Army Chief of Staff Qadam Shah Shahim stepped down with immediate effect," the president's office stated in a tweet.
The acting presidential spokesman, Shah Hussain Murtazawi, told the Reuters news agency that the pair had resigned because of Friday's attack in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, in which gunmen and suicide bombers in army uniform killed and wounded soldiers praying in a mosque and eating in a dining facility.
The resignations came as US Secretary of State Jim Mattis arrived in Afghanistan for a visit during which he is expected to meet US troops stationed there and Afghan officials. Washington is looking to work out a strategy for its further role in the country under President Donald Trump's administration.
The US led an invasion of the country in 2001 in which the Taliban were ousted from power. After maintaining a security presence in Afghanistan for more than a decade, the US and other international forces ceased their combat operations at the end of 2014, though some troops remain in a training role.
Huge death toll
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the assault, which is being called the largest and deadliest attack on an army command center in the country.
The Afghan Defense Ministry has so far failed to give an exact number of casualties, putting the toll at more than 100 dead and wounded. But some officials say 140 soldiers and other personnel were killed in the attack, with a further 160 injured.
The base is home to the 209th Corps of the Afghan National Army and serves much of northern Afghanistan.
The Taliban were ousted from power in a US-led invasion in 2001Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Khan
Multiple insurgencies
The attack was the second major assault on a secure facility in Afghanistan in recent months. In early March, "Islamic State" (IS) attacked a military hospital in the capital, Kabul, killing 49 people and leaving a further 76 wounded.
Afghan security forces are struggling to put down insurgencies waged not only by the Taliban, but also by IS and other foreign militant groups. Their task has become even more difficult since international forces withdrew their combat troops.
Modern Afghanistan - in the past
Under the Taliban, women were required to wear an all-covering burqa when venturing outside their homes. But there were times in Afghan history when they adopted a more Western clothing style, as these photos show.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Aspiring doctors
This picture, taken in 1962, shows two female medicine students at the University of Kabul listening to their professor as they examine a plaster showing a human body part. At that time, women played an active role in Afghan society. They also had access to education and were able to take up work outside home.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
Style on Kabul's streets
Two young women dressed in Western-style outfits are seen in this picture taken in 1962 outside the building of Radio Kabul in the country's capital city, Kabul. After the fundamentalist Taliban took over power in the mid-1990s, women were required to wear an all-covering burqa when in public.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Equal rights for all - not always
In the mid-1970s, female students were a common sight at Afghan education centers such as Kabul's Polytechnical University. But some 20 years later, women's access to education in the conflict-ridden country was completely shut down. And it changed only after the toppling of the Taliban regime in 2001. The right to education for both men and women was enshrined in the 2003 Afghan Constitution.
Image: Getty Images/Hulton Archive/Zh. Angelov
Computer science in its infancy
In this picture a Soviet instructor is seen teaching computing technology to Afghan students at Kabul's Polytechnical Institute. During the 10-year Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, a number of Soviet lecturers taught at Afghan universities.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
Students among themselves
This 1981 picture shows an informal gathering of female and male Afghan students in Kabul. In 1979, a Soviet invasion of land-locked Afghanistan led to a 10-year war. When the Soviets withdrew from the country in 1989, a civil war ensued which culminated in the Taliban's accession to power in 1996.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
Schools for all
This picture shows Afghan girls at a secondary school in Kabul at the time of the Soviet occupation. During the Taliban regime that followed just a few years later, women and girls were barred from attending school and denied access to education. They were also banned from taking up employment outside home.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
A two-class society
In this picture taken in 1981, a woman, unveiled and without a headscarf, is seen with her children. Scenes such as these have been rare ever since. Even almost 15 years after the collapse of the Taliban regime, women continue to struggle for equality in the male-dominated Afghan society. For instance, there is only one woman taxi driver in the entire country.
