Taliban claim deadly Kabul attack

The Taliban continued their targeted campaign against Afghan pilots with a bombing in Kabul on Saturday that killed an Afghan air force member and injured five civilians.

Reuters reported that the pilot, Hamidullah Azimi, was traveling in a vehicle when a sticky bomb attached to it exploded.

Shortly after the explosion, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group was behind the attack.

Afghan Air Force commander Abdul Fatah Eshaqzai said Azimi moved to the Afghan capital with his family a year ago due to security threats and was trained to fly American-made UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

The pilot had served in the Afghan Air Force for nearly four years, according to Reuters.

The explosion comes after Mujahid confirmed last month that the Taliban launched an effort to track down and assassinate Afghan Air Force pilots.

U.S. and Afghan officials have called the targeted campaign a way for the Taliban to take control of the country and destroy the defensive capabilities of the Afghan military as the United States nears completion of its full troop withdrawal. from the country.

The Taliban also claimed responsibility for a car bomb and a gun attack on the home of the Afghan defense minister on Tuesday night. Bismillah Mohammadi, the group saying they wanted to disrupt an important meeting that was underway.

There was another attack on Wednesday near the main Afghan security agency in Kabul that injured three people, although no group immediately claimed responsibility.

President BidenJoe Biden Florida Democratic Party Chairman slams DeSantis over high cases of COVID-19 in the state Larry David, late-night talkers cut from Obama’s birthday guest list Democrats of the House select Riggleman as advisor to the January 6 committee PLUS continued to support his decision to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan ahead of the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, although experts fear the Taliban could quickly take control of the country without a stable US presence there .

On Friday, the Taliban won a major victory in claiming control of Zaranj, the capital of Afghanistan’s Nimruz province, days after advancing in two major cities – Kandahar and Herat – for the first time in nearly 20 years.

On the same day, news reports revealed that the Taliban had killed the head of the Afghan government’s media department.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said this week that the Secretary of State Antoine BlinkAntony BlinkenOvernight Defense: World leaders castigate Iran for tanker attack Much like the military, civil organizations should not leave their Afghan allies behind Blinken to diplomats: “I wish we had more answers »On Havana syndrome PLUS had spoken with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and that Blinken “stressed the need to speed up peace negotiations” with the Taliban.

Administration official Biden also expressed the wish that Afghanistan “achieve a political settlement that is inclusive, respects the rights of all Afghans, including women and minorities, enables the Afghan people to have their own rights. say in the choice of its leadership and prevent Afghan soil from being used to threaten the United States and its allies and partners.