KABUL: At least 20 soldiers are believed to have been killed and others injured during a Taliban attack on a key Afghan-US military base in Helmand province on Friday.
The pre-dawn assault on the Shorab compound came during a pause in peace talks between Taliban and US officials in the Qatari capital Doha.
Militants, armed with rocket-propelled grenades, engaged in a heavy firefight with Afghan forces at the base where US troops are also stationed.
Officials in Helmand later claimed that all nine of the assailants who had taken part in the raid were killed, and there were no reports of any US military casualties.
The Shorab attack is the first major one to be conducted by the Taliban since the group began direct peace talks with US diplomats in a bid to bring an end to the long-running conflict in Afghanistan.
It came as Taliban and US negotiators — led by Washington’s special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad — took a break from their latest round of discussions in Doha, which both sides have described as positive.
Ahead of the talks, the Taliban had said that the focus of the meeting was the total withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, with the insurgents guaranteeing that Afghan soil would never again be used against US interests or any other nation.
Citing US and European officials with knowledge about the progress of the Doha talks, The New York Times reported that the US was looking at keeping its troops in Afghanistan for up to five years, with the Taliban agreeing to join a provisional government.
However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the report was propaganda by the “anti-peace crowd” with Afghans “inching closer toward peace.”
In a statement Mujahid said: “No talks have been held in the meetings regarding an interim government and elections, nor has the US side proposed anything regarding staying in Afghanistan for four or five years.”
On the Shorab assault, another Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi, said the attackers had caused serious damage to a fleet of helicopters inside the base.
But Helmand governorate officials denied Ahmadi’s account, adding that nine assailants had taken part in the attack and all of them had been killed.
Despite the peace talks, fighting has continued to take place in Afghanistan between the Taliban and US-backed Afghan forces.
Former Afghan diplomat Ahmad Saeedi said the Shorab attack and previous military pushes were normal attempts to try and gain an upper hand in negotiations.
“Whenever peace talks reach an important stage, the warring sides try to have military gains so they can bargain at the peace table from a position of strength,” Saeedi told Arab News.
![]()
At least 20 soldiers killed in Taliban attack on Afghan-US base
At least 20 soldiers killed in Taliban attack on Afghan-US base
- Helmand officials deny death toll claiming all 9 militant attackers were killed
- Deadly assault comes during break in Taliban-US peace talks
Japanese women MPs want more seats, the porcelain kind
TOKYO: Nearly 60 women lawmakers in Japan, including Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, have submitted a petition calling for more toilets in the parliament building to match their improved representation.
Although the number of women politicians rose at the last election — and despite Takaichi becoming the first female prime minister in October — Japanese politics remains massively male-dominated.
This is reflected by there being only one lavatory containing two cubicles for the lower house’s 73 women to use near the Diet’s main plenary session hall in central Tokyo.
“Before plenary sessions start, truly so many women lawmakers have to form long queues in front of the restroom,” said Yasuko Komiyama from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party.
She was speaking after submitting the cross-party petition signed by 58 women to Yasukazu Hamada, the chair of the lower house committee on rules and administration, earlier this month.
The Diet building was finished in 1936, nearly a decade before women got the vote in December 1945 following Japan’s defeat in World War II.
The entire lower house building has 12 men’s toilets with 67 stalls and nine women’s facilities with a total of 22 cubicles, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
Gender-rigid Japan ranked 118 out of 148 this year in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. Women are also grossly under-represented in business and the media.
In elections, women candidates say that they often have to deal with sexist jibes, including being told that they should be at home looking after children.
Currently, 72 of 465 lower house lawmakers are women, up from 45 in the previous parliament, as are 74 of the 248 upper house members.
The government’s stated target is to have women occupy at least 30 percent of the legislative seats.
Takaichi, an admirer of former British premier Margaret Thatcher, said before becoming premier that she wanted “Nordic” levels of gender balance in her cabinet.
But, in the end, she appointed just two other women to her 19-strong cabinet.
Takaichi, 64, has said she hopes to raise awareness about women’s health struggles and has spoken candidly about her own experience with menopause.
But she is still seen as socially conservative.
She opposes revising a 19th-century law requiring married couples to share the same surname, and wants the imperial family to retain male-only succession.
The increasing demand for female loos can be seen as a sign of progress for Japan although it also reflects the nation’s failure to achieve gender equality, Komiyama said.
“In a way, this symbolizes how the number of female lawmakers has increased,” Komiyama told reporters, according to her party’s website, adding that she hoped for more equality in other areas of life.
Although the number of women politicians rose at the last election — and despite Takaichi becoming the first female prime minister in October — Japanese politics remains massively male-dominated.
This is reflected by there being only one lavatory containing two cubicles for the lower house’s 73 women to use near the Diet’s main plenary session hall in central Tokyo.
“Before plenary sessions start, truly so many women lawmakers have to form long queues in front of the restroom,” said Yasuko Komiyama from the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party.
She was speaking after submitting the cross-party petition signed by 58 women to Yasukazu Hamada, the chair of the lower house committee on rules and administration, earlier this month.
The Diet building was finished in 1936, nearly a decade before women got the vote in December 1945 following Japan’s defeat in World War II.
The entire lower house building has 12 men’s toilets with 67 stalls and nine women’s facilities with a total of 22 cubicles, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
Gender-rigid Japan ranked 118 out of 148 this year in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. Women are also grossly under-represented in business and the media.
In elections, women candidates say that they often have to deal with sexist jibes, including being told that they should be at home looking after children.
Currently, 72 of 465 lower house lawmakers are women, up from 45 in the previous parliament, as are 74 of the 248 upper house members.
The government’s stated target is to have women occupy at least 30 percent of the legislative seats.
Takaichi, an admirer of former British premier Margaret Thatcher, said before becoming premier that she wanted “Nordic” levels of gender balance in her cabinet.
But, in the end, she appointed just two other women to her 19-strong cabinet.
Takaichi, 64, has said she hopes to raise awareness about women’s health struggles and has spoken candidly about her own experience with menopause.
But she is still seen as socially conservative.
She opposes revising a 19th-century law requiring married couples to share the same surname, and wants the imperial family to retain male-only succession.
The increasing demand for female loos can be seen as a sign of progress for Japan although it also reflects the nation’s failure to achieve gender equality, Komiyama said.
“In a way, this symbolizes how the number of female lawmakers has increased,” Komiyama told reporters, according to her party’s website, adding that she hoped for more equality in other areas of life.
Latest updates
© 2025 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.