Afghan defence chief quits over attack, as Mattis flies in

Afghanistan's defence minister and army chief of staff resigned on Monday after the deadliest ever Taliban attack on a military base, and U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Kabul as Washington looks to craft a new strategy for the country. 


Mattis was expected to meet Afghan officials and U.S. troops, but his arrival coincided with the fall-out from Friday's Taliban assault on a base in the north of the country in which more than 140 Afghan soldiers were killed. 


"Defence Minister Abdullah Habibi and Army Chief of Staff Qadam Shah Shahim stepped down with immediate effect," the office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced in a post on its Twitter account. 


Shah Hussain Murtazawi, acting spokesman for Ghani, told Reuters the resignations were because of Friday's attack on a major army base in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. 


Ghani's office also announced that he had replaced the commanders of four army corps in response to the attack. 


The attack underlines the scale of the challenge facing the Western-backed government and its international partners more than 15 years after the United States invaded the country. 


In a serious security failure, as many as 10 Taliban fighters, dressed in Afghan army uniforms and driving military vehicles, made their way onto the base and opened fire on soldiers and new recruits eating a meal and leaving a mosque after Friday prayers, according to officials. 


Multiple Afghan officials said the final death toll was likely to be even higher. 


The attackers used rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, and suicide vests, they said. 


SHIFTING PRIORITIES 


U.S. officials acknowledge that Afghanistan has rarely in recent years been considered a priority by decision-makers, who have instead been consumed by Syria, Iraq and, increasingly, North Korea. 


But there are signs the administration of new President Donald Trump is making progress in crafting a policy for Afghanistan. 


Trump's National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster visited Afghanistan this month, becoming the first senior official from the new administration to do so. 


The White House recently offered Lisa Curtis, a researcher with a Washington-based think-tank, the position of senior director for South and Central Asia - at a time when many other jobs in the Trump administration are still vacant. 


U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there was currently an inter-agency review under way, which could take several weeks, to determine the goals and milestones for the United States in Afghanistan

Source: NNA