KABUL: The Afghan president visited the embattled southeastern city of Ghazni on Friday, a week after the Taliban in a surprise attack managed to infiltrate deep into the key provincial capital and capture several areas of it.

Two rockets hit inside the city as President Ashraf Ghani held a meeting with elders at a nearby mosque, witnesses said. A third rocket landed in a nearby river, they said.

There were no injuries and Ghani was never in any danger. The Taliban hung on in Ghazni for nearly five days before US-backed Afghan forces flushed them out in what were some of the fiercest battles with the insurgents in recent months that killed scores of Afghan troops and civilians.

Security was on high alert as Ghani arrived by helicopter in Ghazni, just 120 kilometres from the capital, Kabul. Mohammad Khan, the deputy of the country’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, accompanied Ghani on the trip.

They immediately went into meetings with security officials and elders. In a speech, Khan said greater security was needed around district capitals, as well as the provincial capital, and questioned the strength of defence trenches dug around vulnerable areas.

Afghan helicopters also patrolled overhead as the president visited, police official Bilal Ahmad said.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2018