Taliban fighters have carried out a mass jailbreak in the central Afghan city of Ghazni, freeing hundreds of prisoners and leaving security officials with the uncomfortable job of explaining how such an incident could happen once again.The Taliban attacked the prison at 2am on Monday, firing rocket-propelled grenades at the watchtowers and sending a suicide bomber in a Toyota Corolla to blow himself up outside the prison gates, according to Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, Ghazni’s deputy governor.
Six Taliban fighters disguised in police uniforms stormed the prison grounds and freed 355 prisoners, 148 of them insurgents charged with national and international security crimes, the interior ministry said. The jail held a total of 436 prisoners.The ministry said four police officers were killed and another seven wounded. On Twitter, the Taliban’s spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said three insurgents died in the attack. The jailbreak appears to have been carefully planned. Ahmadi, the deputy governor, said that prior to storming the prison the insurgents attacked various locations in the city to divert security forces. He said the Taliban scattered mines around the prison to hold reinforcements at bay. This is the third major jailbreak staged by the Afghan Taliban since 2008, with the group having recently stepped up its activities in Afghanistan. Even as the scenario unfolded in Ghazni, key US and Pakistani officials held talks in Islamabad on how to bring Afghanistan back to the negotiating table in a bid to control the perilous situation in the country. The top US general posted in Kabul and President Barack Obama’s acting special adviser on Pakistan and Afghanistan, met Army Chief General Raheel Sharif to discuss what the best course of action should be. It was agreed that Kabul needed to be persuaded by both nations to revive the stalled dialogue process with the Afghan Taliban. This will remain a difficult task given the recent attacks on key targets by the Taliban in Afghanistan. At the very least, Pakistan will have to work hard to allay Afghan concerns regarding Pakistani territory being used to launch attacks on Afghan soil. Complaints regarding this have continued to come in from Kabul and are reported also to have been taken up by the US. What both countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, need to do is to tame the Afghan Taliban. If this involves Kabul returning to the negotiating table, then all measures that could make this happen must be pursued by Pakistan. Both countries need to start cooperating with each other without engaging in power games of their own. There is really no alternative to this given the danger inherent in the current situation.
pk.shafaqna.com
