Twelve police officers were killed in Afghanistan on Sunday, seven of them in an ambush by the Taliban south of Kabul, Afghan officials said.
The deadliest attack took place in Logar province, when the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Scott Miller, said preparations were under way for the withdrawal of foreign troops still present in the Asian country, as recently ordered by US President Joe Biden.
“Seven policemen were killed and three others were injured in an ambush by the Taliban in the Mohammad Aga district,” said a spokesman for the governor of Logar province, which is under administrative control.
They belonged to a unit guarding copper mines.
Provincial police confirmed the attack.
Afghanistan, whose economy has been hit hard by decades of war and endemic disparities, has reserves of copper, iron, cobalt and lithium.
Five other policemen were killed and four others were injured in what became known as the Maiwand district of southern Kandahar province, a rebel stronghold, when the driver of a car full of explosives threw it at a police vehicle, police said.
The Afghan Interior Ministry had earlier said the Taliban had carried out six suicide bombings and carried out a total of 62 bombings in the past 10 days, killing at least 60 civilians and wounding 180 others.
For his part, General Miller assured that preparations had begun for the surrender of the remaining bases to the Afghan forces and for the withdrawal of American troops.
“We will hand over the bases to the Ministry of Defense and other Afghan forces,” the US general told reporters in Kabul, without giving further details about the bases.
Washington plans to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
Joe Biden recently said it was time to “end America’s longest-running war,” which began shortly after the 9/11 attacks.
Many analysts, however, believe that the withdrawal of foreign troops could plunge Afghanistan into a new civil war or allow the Taliban to return to power, from which they were ousted in late 2001.
The withdrawal of the 2,500 US troops still present in Afghanistan is scheduled to begin on May 1, with those belonging to NATO. The Atlantic Alliance Resolute Support mission has a total of 9,600 members from 36 countries.
