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 The latest attack on Afghan security forces was in the southern
province of Kandahar, the cradle of the hard-line Islamist Taliban
movement that ruled Afghanistan for five years.
A policeman and four civilians died in the attack that started when
a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform detonated a carload of
explosives at the main gate of the compound in Kandahar's Maiwand
district.
Four heavily armed gunmen then forced their way inside, government
spokesman Sameem Khpalwak said. The fighting in Maiwand lasted for
two hours, before security forces killed the attackers.
A Taliban spokesman in southern Afghanistan, Qadri Yusuf Ahmadi,
claimed responsibility.
This has been the bloodiest year since 2001 in Afghanistan's
13-year-old war, with the Taliban engaging police and soldiers
across the country. Dozens of Afghans die daily in the violence.
 About 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed as
of November, up more than 6 percent over the corresponding period of
2013.
The Taliban emerged from Kandahar in the 1990s and went on to rule
the country until being toppled by the U.S.-led invasion after the
Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York. It has been seeking to
re-establish a hard-line Islamic state ever since.
Foreign troops are winding up the combat mission in a few weeks and,
sensing an opportunity, the Taliban has again stepped up attacks
across the country as well as in the capital, Kabul.
The International Security Assistance Joint Command, which ran the
coalition combat operations, held a flag-lowering ceremony on Monday
to hand over to the international support and training mission that
begins on Jan. 1.
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Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, outgoing chief of the joint command, said
he was confident the Afghan police and army could prevent the
Taliban from regaining territory next year.
"This country is safer and more prosperous than ever," he said. "The
insurgents have been beaten back and the Afghan National Security
Forces are carrying the fight to the enemy."
The reverse of the program for the ceremony belied the projection of
safety and security, however, advising attendees to lie on the
ground in case insurgents launched a rocket attack.
(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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