19 killed in Taliban attacks in Afghanistan
Security personnel inspect a bus after a suicide attack Saturday in Kabul. Six Afghan soldiers died, and 18 soldiers and civilians were injured. (Rahmat Gul, The Associated Press)
KABUL Three Taliban attacks killed at least 19 people in Afghanistan on Saturday, including a senior judicial official and personnel working to clear one of the most heavily mined regions of the world.
The attacks came amid a spike in violence weeks before the international military mission in Afghanistan comes to an end Dec. 31, 13 years after the 9/11 attacks sparked a U.S.-led invasion to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban's terrorist regime.
As the Taliban insurgency vows to maintain its campaign against government, military and foreign targets, the attacks have prompted tighter security in Kabul and concerns among Afghans that the situation can only worsen after foreign forces have transitioned to a support role from Jan. 1.
The U.S. and NATO will leave about 13,000 service members in the country, with sliding reductions over the coming two years.
With the end of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, the residual troops are meant to offer training and support to Afghan security forces that have been leading the anti-insurgency fight while suffering record casualties since the middle of last year.
President Ashraf Ghani made it clear during recent overseas trips that he thinks Afghanistan needs ongoing financial and military support as the insurgency intensifies and spreads.
"We are not yet able to do everything alone. Your continued support will, therefore, be key in ensuring that our collective gains of the 13 years will be enduring," Ghani told NATO foreign ministers in Brussels earlier this month.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Saturday attacks, as well as one late Friday in which two American soldiers were killed, according to an international military official who spoke on condition of anonymity as the information wasn't authorized for release. The soldiers died when a suicide bomber targeted their convoy near the Bagram air base.
Their deaths brought to 65 the total number of international troops to die in Afghanistan this year, 50 of them Americans.
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19 killed in Taliban attacks in Afghanistan