GHAZNI CITY - With Taliban fighters still positioned on the outskirts of the city, the Afghan president on August 17 arrived by helicopter rather than traveling the 120 kilometers southwest from Kabul on Afghanistan’s main “ring road” highway.
Reports say two rockets were fired into the city as Ghani met at a nearby mosque with tribal elders and local security officials. A third rocket landed in a nearby river.
Afghan authorities say nobody was injured by the rockets and Ghani was never in any danger. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket attack.
Ghani’s visit came hours after U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the situation in Ghazni has become “much more stable” since most Taliban fighters withdrew to the outskirts of the city. But Mattis also confirmed that someTaliban fighters remain in Ghazni and are “trying to get resupplied.”
“They have not endeared themselves, obviously, to the population of Ghazni,” Mattis said during an August 16 visit to Colombia. “They use terror. They use bombs because they can’t win with ballots.”
Mattis also said however voiced their anger over the security situation and said government should have provided better security to protect the academy which they said “was under threat in the past”.
The Taliban has denied responsibility for the attack. (Tolo news)