A series of loud explosions rocked central Kabul on Saturday, including several rockets that landed near the heavily fortified Green Zone where many embassies and international companies are located, authorities said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, but the explosions occurred in densely populated areas of the Afghan capital.
Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz confirmed that “multiple rockets” had been fired, while photos on social media appeared to show damage to an external wall in a large medical complex.
The Interior Ministry said two small “sticky bomb” explosions had been reported Saturday morning, including one that hit a police vehicle, killing one police officer and wounding three others.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts, which come amid an ongoing wave of violence that has sparked carnage in Afghanistan in recent months.
The Taliban have vowed not to attack urban areas under the terms of a US withdrawal agreement, but the Kabul administration has blamed insurgents or their proxies for other recent attacks in Kabul.
Taliban and Afghan government negotiators started peace talks in Doha in September, but progress has been slow.
However, officials told AFP on Friday that a breakthrough was expected to be announced in the coming days, and the U.S. State Department announced Friday night that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with negotiators from the Taliban and the Afghan government in Doha.
Trump has repeatedly promised to end “wars for good,” including in Afghanistan, the longest conflict in US history that began with an invasion to dislodge the Taliban after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
President-elect Joe Biden, at a rare point of agreement, also advocates ending the war in Afghanistan, although analysts believe he will not be as committed to a fast schedule.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon said it would soon withdraw some 2,000 troops from Afghanistan, speeding up the schedule set in a February agreement between Washington and the Taliban that calls for a full US withdrawal by mid-2021.
In the past six months, the Taliban carried out 53 suicide attacks and 1,250 explosions that left 1,210 civilians dead and 2,500 injured, Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said this week.
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