US condemns Kabul attack, calls on Taliban to live up to its commitments

WASHINGTON: United States State Department Spokesperson Ned Price has condemned the attack that took place in the Afghanistan capital Kabul leaving three assailants dead and several others injured.

Addressing a press briefing on Monday, Price called on the Taliban to fulfil its commitments made to the international community.
“First on the attack today in Kabul. We’ve seen these reports, the reports of violence, reports potentially of deaths and casualties. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the use of violence against innocent civilians,” Price told the media.

“The Afghan people have been subjected to levels of violence for are far too high for far too long, and we condemn unequivocally what has happened today,” he added.

Price’s statement comes after gunmen attacked the Longan Hotel in Kabul on Monday, December 12. He also stated that the attack bore resemblance to that of the ISIS-K. He said, “Obviously, these reports are fresh out of Kabul. The attack appears to bear some of the hallmarks of ISIS-K, some of the brutal tactics that this especially brutal group has used to perpetrate attacks against the people of Afghanistan.”

“We continue to call on the Taliban to live up to the commitments that they have made to the international community to the United States bilaterally in some cases but most importantly to the commitments they have made to their own people, a society that is free from this sort of terrorist violence,” Ned Price said.

Three assailants were killed in the hotel attack in the Shahr-e-Naw area of Kabul on December 12, Khaama Press reported citing Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid. Mujahid stated that all guests have been moved and no foreign citizen was killed in the attack. He added that two students from other nations jumped out of the window to escape the attack.

According to Khaama Press, security personnel reached the attack site and blocked off the area. Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said that the hotel was targeted at 2.30 pm on Monday (local time). (ANI)