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 The brazen assault on the symbolic center of power, along with
territorial gains elsewhere, highlight how NATO-trained Afghan
security forces are struggling to cope with worsening militant
violence.
Fighting has spiraled since the departure of most foreign forces
from Afghanistan at the end of last year. The insurgents are pushing
to take territory more than 13 years after U.S.-led military
intervention toppled them from power.
Monday's attack, in which at least 19 people were wounded, began as
lawmakers met with the new acting defense minister, Masoom
Stanikzai, the third candidate so far for the key security post
whose appointment must be confirmed by parliament.
A Taliban fighter detonated a car loaded with explosives outside
parliament gates, said Ebadullah Karimi, spokesman for Kabul police,
raising questions about how the driver got through several security
checkpoints.
 Six gunmen took up positions in a building near parliament, he said,
but never breached the compound's gates. Security forces killed the
six after a gun battle lasting nearly two hours.
Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said all lawmakers were safe.
TV pictures showed the speaker sitting calmly and legislators
leaving the building, engulfed in dust and smoke, without panicking.
Four women were among the 19 people wounded, said Sayed Kabir Amiri,
a health official who coordinates Kabul hospitals.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility.
"We have launched an attack on parliament as there was an important
gathering to introduce the country's defense minister," he said by
phone, referring to Stanikzai.
"BIG FAILURE"
Farhad Sediqi was one of several lawmakers who criticized security
agencies for not preventing the attack.
"It shows a big failure in the intelligence and security departments
of the government," he said.
The attack fits a pattern of high-profile assaults on heavily
fortified buildings in the capital. Last month, car bombs targeted
the Ministry of Justice, and attackers stormed two guesthouses used
by foreigners.
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In 2013 the presidential palace was hit, and the U.S. embassy has
been attacked several times, notably in 2011 when nine people were
killed and 27 wounded in coordinated strikes on the embassy and
other targets.
This year, the withdrawal of foreign forces and a reduction in U.S.
air strikes have allowed Taliban fighters, who ruled Afghanistan
with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001, to launch several major attacks
in important provinces.
A district in the northern province of Kunduz fell to the Taliban on
Monday, the second such loss in two days. Officials said the
militants were able to take over when urgently needed reinforcements
failed to arrive.
The Taliban captured Dasht-e-Archi district a day after hundreds of
militants fought their way to the center of the adjacent district of
Chardara.
"The Taliban managed to take it over this morning as the area has
been surrounded for days," Nasruddin Saeedi, the district governor
who escaped to the provincial capital, Kunduz city, told Reuters by
telephone.
"There are many foreign fighters with heavy machine guns. We have
asked for reinforcements, but none arrived."
Afghan soldiers were preparing a counterattack to retake both
districts, another local official said.
Monday's heavy fighting was just three km (two miles) from the
provincial governor's compound.
(Additional reporting by Feroz Sultani in Kunduz and Mirwais Harooni
in Kabul; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Nick Macfie and
Mike Collett-White)
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