Massive blast rocks Afghan capital Kabul; Defense Minister reassures 'Everything is fine'

A massive blast rocked the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul on Tuesday. The blast, as per the security forces, took place in an area crowded with diplomatic quarters, near the house of the Defence Minister of the country Bismillah Mohammadi. Reports had claimed that after the blast, some gunmen had entered the house of Mohammadi, and a gunfight had ensued. However, without referring to the reports, the Defense Minister on his official Twitter handle asserted that 'Everything was fine'. This comes at a time when the Afghanistan-Taliban issue is at its peak.

Afghan deploys hundreds of commandos to fight Taliban

The Afghan National Defence and Security Forces battled the Taliban on Monday to prevent a major city from falling into the hands of the insurgents. In a major offensive over the weekend, the Islamist Fundamentalist group assaulted at least three major provincial capitals. Afghan forces, however, successfully repelled the attack using both on-ground troops and aerial forces. The attack came soon after the Afghan Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that it would be deploying hundreds of commandos. 

In the joint operation of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANDSF) and the Afghan Air Force (AAF), 400 terrorists were eliminated alone on Monday. The battle which started with the insurgent group Taliban seeking to re-establish Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan has now escalated to bone-rattling strikes and counter strikes, and in this, the  Afghan forces have the support of the US. The US has time and again affirmed that it is committed to helping the Afghan security forces and the Afghan government going forward to counter the threat.

Besides, recently it has also decided to provide an opportunity to the American government loyalist Afghans to settle in America. The State Department said that this benefit will be provided to "many thousands of Afghans and their immediate family members who may be at risk due to their US affiliation.”

Image Credit: Muham_madi1/Twitter/Unsplash