A Taliban attack on a key Afghan military airfield has left dozens dead and cast a shadow over Afghanistan's security and its relationship with neighbouring Pakistan.
As Afghan president Ashraf Ghani headed to a peace summit, Taliban insurgents were using the cover of darkness to mount an attack on the airfield at Kandahar, in his country's south.
"Fifty of our innocent countrymen, including 10 soldiers, two policemen and 38 civilians, were martyred in the attack," the Defence Ministry said in a statement, adding that 37 others were wounded.
According to one Afghan army commander, 14 attackers, four wearing suicide vests, breached the outer perimeter of the compound, which is home to both Afghan and NATO forces.
The incident is a major embarrassment for the Afghan security forces who were supposed to have secured the area.
Families used as human shields
Witnesses said the militants had taken families hostage, using them as "human shields" after storming the sprawling complex, and slowing down the military's clearance operation.
"The fighting started around 6:00pm [Tuesday, local time] and intensified over the night," 30-year-old university student Izatullah, who lives inside the complex, said.
"Soldiers were calling on Taliban attackers to let women and children go, but the attackers declined. We could hear children screaming during the fighting."
The Afghan defence ministry on Wednesday evening said nine insurgents had been gunned down, one was injured and another was still holed up inside a building.
"Unfortunately during the battle, 37 innocent Afghans were killed and 35 others injured," the ministry added.
The militants managed to breach the first gate of the high-security air field and took up position in an old school building, engaging security forces in fierce firefights.
The Taliban posted a picture on their website of the militants it said were involved in the brazen attack.
It shows 10 young men sporting trimmed beards, Kalashnikovs and identical military uniforms.
The face of one of them is obscured with blue ink for reasons that were not revealed.
"The martyrdom seekers ... entered Kandahar airbase undetected ... and began thunderous attacks," the post said.
It claimed the assailants reported via telephone that some 80 Afghan and foreign forces had been killed and 13 armoured carriers destroyed.
The insurgents are regularly known to exaggerate battlefield claims.
'Enemies of Afghanistan are the enemies of Pakistan': Sharif
Local commanders have reportedly said they intercepted militants communicating in Urdu, commonly spoken in neighbouring Pakistan.
"Most of the time, the insurgents, they are coming from Pakistan to Afghanistan," said Samim Kharpalwak, the Kandahar governor's spokesman. "This is the problem."
Afghanistan has long accused its neighbour of providing safe haven to Taliban insurgents, who have been mounting an increasing number of attacks since most foreign forces left Afghanistan last year.
The militants briefly seized the northern city of Kunduz two months ago, prompting US president Barack Obama to defer a further troop reduction.
Many analysts say the increase in violence is also a result of confirmation in July that Taliban commander Mullah Omar had been killed, creating a power vacuum.
As a result, peace talks had collapsed, and the Kandahar attack coincided with an attempt to revive them, as regional leaders met in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
As the gun battles continued across the border, Pakistan's prime minister Nawaz Sharif pledged cooperation.
"Afghanistan is a sovereign state and international community fully respects its sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said.
"The democratically elected government in Afghanistan is the only legitimate authority in the country in accordance with its unanimously-adopted constitution.
"Enemies of Afghanistan are the enemies of Pakistan."
It was a sentiment Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani welcomed.
"There was considerable uncertainty whether Pakistan would truly acknowledge a sovereign Afghan state, with its legitimate government and its legitimate constitution," he said.
"Your words today have gone a very long way to assure us in this regard and that opens up the possibility of a sustained dialogue among us."
But not only does this latest attack signal the continued opposition to peace amongst some insurgents, its reputed links to Pakistan are sure to place doubt in Afghan officials' minds about their neighbour's willingness or ability to crack down on them.
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