KABUL — Ten terrified international aid workers huddled inside a fortified room in Kabul for two hours during a Taliban attack until they were rescued by Afghan police, the aid group said Sunday. A NATO commander said the dramatic operation bodes well for the country’s future without foreign forces.
An Afghan police officer and two civilians were killed.
Major General Joseph Osterman, director of operations for the international military coalition, said the relatively low number of casualties was a sign of how Afghan forces have ‘‘markedly improved’’ as they increasingly take over responsibility for protecting the country ahead of most foreign troops’ withdrawal next year.
That militants were able to launch two attacks in the capital in a little over a week — another car bomb killed six Americans and nine Afghan bystanders eight days before — prove how fierce a fight Afghan forces face. Still, Osterman called this response by the Afghans “very impressive.’’
Richard Danziger, chief of mission for the International Organization for Migration, thanked police for the rescue during Friday’s Taliban assault with a car bomb and attackers wearing suicide bomb vests and wielding shoulder-fired grenade launchers. He also praised the group’s armed Nepalese guards, five of whom were wounded.
All four of the attackers were killed. Danziger, who was out of Afghanistan during Friday’s siege, said he was ‘‘mystified’’ as to why the group was targeted. It is a UN-affiliated agency assisting returning Afghan migrants as well as those displaced by fighting. Danziger said the staff would resume work Monday in temporary quarters.