Taliban ready to attack Kabul, can strike anywhere: Afghan commander

Kabul, Mar 13 (ANI): A top Taliban commander has said his fighters are poised and ready to attack Kabul and could strike virtually anywhere in the city.

It would be tempting to put this down to Taliban propaganda, except that one of Kabul's top cops is saying the same thing.

"We are working on a security strategy for the city and if we don't get it right, they (Taliban) can attack at any minute, at any hour, any time," said Commander Muhammad Daud Amin, who in charge of securing Kabul district.

Proof of the menacing threat came just last month when eight Taliban fighters, bristling with weapons and suicide vests, burst into three government buildings in the centre of Kabul.

Police and security forces managed to kill all the attackers before they could detonate their vests, but 20 people were killed and dozens were wounded, CNN reported.

"Staff... staff," Amin pointed to pictures of dead Justice Ministry staff from his evidence book of the crime scene of last month's attack.

"Police went looking for the Taliban and they went after them inside. We are convinced the Taliban wanted to hold ministry employees hostage," Amin said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, in an interview with PBS television, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said any political reconciliation with elements of the Afghan insurgency must be under terms set by the Kabul Government.

He said most insurgencies eventually are resolved through a political settlement. He said there were some fanatical members of the Taliban that had no interest in reconciliation. (ANI)