Kabul explosion: At least 16 dead in Taliban attack hours after US agrees deal to withdraw 5,000 troops from Afghanistan

A major Taliban suicide attack on an affluent area of Kabul has killed at least 16 people and injured more than 100 others.

The attack came just hours after the US said it had agreed a deal “in principle” with the Taliban for the withdrawal of around 5,000 troops from Afghanistan.

An interior ministry spokesman said security forces had shot and killed five attackers who were attempting to storm the Green Village compound, an area full of international NGOs that has frequently been targeted by the Taliban.

The attack began late on Monday night when a tractor rigged with explosives hit the compound’s western wall, causing significant damage and destroying a number of nearby homes.

Thick black smoke could still be seen rising from the area on Tuesday morning, according to the Associated Press. Some of the fires were reportedly started by protesting Afghan locals, angry at being caught in the middle of the conflict.

“People were screaming and saying, ‘My children are trapped in the rubble,”’ one witness, Faiz Ahmad, told the AP. A large crater was left in the street.

The interior ministry spokesman, Nasrat Rahimi, said some 400 foreigners had been rescued in the wake of the attack.

The Green Village was previously hit by a suicide car bomber in January. That attack also coincided with a development regarding America’s role in the country, as the US envoy was visiting the capital to brief the Afghan government on his negotiations with the Taliban on ending America’s longest war.

Hours before Monday’s attack, Zalmay Khalilzad showed a draft deal to the Afghan president after declaring that they are “at the threshold of an agreement” following the end of the ninth round of US-Taliban talks in Qatar.

The agreement still needs President Donald Trump’s approval.

Shaken Kabul residents question whether any agreement with the Taliban can be trusted, especially as foreign troops withdraw.

“This is what the Taliban are up to in Afghanistan; totally committed to total destruction. Can they be trusted!!??” presidential spokesman Sediq Seddiqi tweeted.

The attack comes at a time when the Taliban appears to be getting what it wants in a deal with the US – a troop withdrawal. The group wants all of the some 20,000 US and NATO troops out of Afghanistan immediately, while the US seeks a withdrawal in phases that would depend on the Taliban meeting certain conditions such as a reduction in violence.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that “we understand that peace talks are going on ... but they must also understand that we are not weak and if we enter into talks ... we enter from a strong position.”

The attack was a response to raids by US and Afghan forces on civilians in other parts of the country, Mr Mujahid told AP. While he acknowledged there should be less harm to civilians, he said they shouldn’t be living near such an important foreign compound.

Attacks have surged in recent months, including Taliban assaults on two provincial capitals over the weekend, as the group seeks to strengthen its negotiating position not only with the US but with the Afghan government in the even more challenging intra-Afghan talks that are meant to follow a US-Taliban deal on Afghanistan’s future.

Some analysts have warned that some factions of the Taliban might be expressing displeasure with the US deal, though Taliban political leaders at the talks in Qatar have insisted that their tens of thousands of fighters would respect whatever agreement is reached.

Additional reporting by agencies