A loud blast and gunfire were heard in the Afghan capital Monday near ahotel popular with Chinese business visitors, a witness said.
The Taliban claim to have improved national security since storming back topower in August last year but there have been scores of bomb blasts andattacks, many claimed by the local chapter of the Islamic State group.
“It was a very loud explosion and then there was a lot of gunfire,” thewitness told AFP. Afghan media also reported similar details.
Security officials were not immediately available to comment on the blastin Shahr-e-naw, one of Kabul’s main commercial areas.
The district is home to the Kabul Longan Hotel, a multi-storey complexpopular with Chinese business people who are visiting Afghanistan inincreasing numbers since the Taliban’s return.
A Taliban source based in Pakistan told AFP that an unknown number ofattackers had entered the hotel.
“An operation has been launched against the attackers. Firing continues,”he said.
AFP correspondents saw teams of Taliban special forces rush to the scene.
China, which shares a rugged 76-kilometre (47-mile) border withAfghanistan, has not officially recognised the Taliban government but isone of the few countries to maintain a full diplomatic presence there.
Beijing has long feared Afghanistan could become a staging point forminority Uyghur separatists in the sensitive border region of Xinjiang.
Read Top Stories
The Taliban have promised that Afghanistan would not be used as a base formilitants and, in exchange, China has offered economic support andinvestment for Afghanistan’s reconstruction.
Maintaining stability after decades of war in Afghanistan is Beijing’s mainconsideration as it seeks to secure its borders and strategicinfrastructure investments in neighbouring Pakistan, home to theChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
The Taliban are at pains to portray Afghanistan as safe for diplomats andbusiness people but two Russian embassy staff members were killed in asuicide bombing outside the mission in September in an attack claimed by IS.
The group also claimed responsibility for an attack on Pakistan’s embassyin Kabul this month that Islamabad decried as an “assassination attempt”against the ambassador.
A security guard was wounded in that attack.
Despite owning the rights to major projects in Afghanistan, notably the MesAynak copper mine, China has not pushed any of these projects forward.
The Taliban are reliant on China to turn one of the world’s largest copperdeposits into a working mine that would help the cash-strapped andsanctions-hit nation recover.Categories : Latest, link Asialink
