Rocket attack thunders through the Kabul sky as president marks Eid holiday start

KABUL — A sustained rocket attack shook the Afghan capital Tuesday morning just as President Ashraf Ghani was delivering a speech marking the beginning of Eid al-Adha, the most important holiday in the Muslim calendar.

There were no reports of casualties from the dozen short range rockets fired, and no group claimed immediate responsibility, but the high-profile assault appeared to be a rejection by Taliban insurgents of Ghani’s offer Sunday for a conditional three-month truce.

Some Taliban leaders said Monday they were still discussing the matter.

As Ghani spoke from his palace Tuesday, the rocket fire could be heard across the city, and the president calmly acknowledged the threat of violence and made it clear that the government was expecting insurgent attacks during Eid.

“We announced a cease-fire providing it is bilateral,” he said. But all were ready to believe that some groups and individuals who believe in plots and bloodletting will resort today to acts that would jeopardize the tranquility of the Afghan nation.”

“If they believe they can subdue this nation with this rocketing, they should rethink that. This nation has the resolve and courage to defend its independence, freedom and religious customs,” he added.

Police confirmed that the attackers had been killed by midmorning when a government helicopter bombed the building they were hiding in, only a few blocks from the presidential palace.

[Ghani offers another Afghan cease-fire]

The Afghan public and the government’s international backers, led by the United States, have been hoping that the successful cease-fire in June, followed by first-ever private talks between Taliban representatives and U.S. diplomats, would lead to a second and more extended truce and a revival of long-abandoned peace talks for the grueling and costly 17-year war.

But some analysts expressed skepticism after the insurgents launched an ambitious attack this month on the strategic city of Ghazni, leaving 120 people dead and buildings destroyed during a four-day siege before they were finally driven out by Afghan ground forces and U.S. air attacks.

Since Ghani’s offer on Sunday, the insurgents have sent mixed signals. On the same day the group issued a statement saying it intended to release 300 prisoners, but on Monday, Taliban fighters kidnapped some 150 bus passengers in the northern city of Kunduz, a reminder of the militants’ ferocious assault on that strategic city in 2015.

The bus passengers were later rescued unharmed by Afghan security forces.

In a lengthy written Eid message to the nation, released Sunday, the top Taliban leader, Maulvi Hibatullah Akundhzada, appeared to reject the possibility of a truce or peace talks, asserting that the insurgents would continue fighting and insisting that the “lone option” for ending the conflict would be the complete withdrawal of U.S. and foreign troops.

“May God bestow victory on the mujahideen . . . our jihadi struggle against the American occupation is on the threshold of victory,” Akundhzada said. He asserted that “bringing peace and security is among the highest priorities of the Islamic Emirate, but peace will remain elusive during an occupation, and no salvation is possible without the establishment of an Islamic authority.”

Sayed Salahuddin contributed to this report

Read more:

After 17 years of war, a peace movement grows in Afghanistan

5 key lessons from the Taliban’s deadly resurgence in Afghanistan

Taliban fighters join Eid celebrations across Afghanistan as cease-fire begins

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