--- description: Taliban fighters attacked an airport that doubles as a heavily armed military base in the city of southern Afghan city of Kandahar title: At Least 37 Dead After Taliban Attacks Kandahar Airport image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5dea0aab39dd092/698874955f570fcf14b1ebdb/ap_353538504554.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Afghanistan](/tag/afghanistan/) ## Afghanistan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # At Least 37 Dead After Taliban Attacks Afghan Airport by [Joanna Plucinska](/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 13, 2023 10:22 PM CUTPublished: Dec 9, 2015 7:07 AM CUT  An Afghan security man inspects damages after clashes between the Afghan police and Taliban militants at a police station in the city of Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 8, 2015 An Afghan security man inspects damages after clashes between the Afghan police and Taliban militants at a police station in the city of Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 8, 2015Allauddin Khan—AP by [Joanna Plucinska](/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 13, 2023 10:22 PM CUTPublished: Dec 9, 2015 7:07 AM CUT Taliban fighters attacked an [airport](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35043938 "undefined") complex in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Tuesday, leaving at least 37 people dead. The heavily fortified military compound is used by Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces who maintain a presence in the area, the BBC reports. According to the [_Wall Street Journal_](http://www.wsj.com/articles/taliban-suicide-bombers-attack-airport-in-kandahar-afghanistan-1449612911 "undefined"), 2,600 coalition troops and approximately 7,000 defense contractors remained at the airbase as of early 2015. Officials said the attackers targeted residential areas within the compound and battled with Afghan forces after breaking past the first gate of the complex, reports [AFP](http://news.yahoo.com/taliban-storm-airport-complex-afghan-city-kandahar-155415272.html "undefined"). According to [al-Jazeera](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/taliban-attacks-kandahar-airport-nato-base-151208151915195.html "undefined"), a military officer’s family was taken hostage. Raziq Shirzai, the Afghan air force commander in the country’s south, told the BBC that casualties included civilians. It was the second attack in less than 24 hours carried out by the Taliban in Kandahar after insurgents stormed a police station on Monday. The attack comes on the eve of a [regional conference](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35043938 "undefined") in Pakistan, due to be attended by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, which is aimed at kick-starting peace talks with the militants. The Taliban has been carrying out an increasing number of attacks in Afghanistan since international coalition forces pulled back their presence last year. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4142172/taliban-kandahar-airport-attack-afghanistan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4142172/taliban-kandahar-airport-attack-afghanistan/"},"headline":"At Least 37 Dead After Taliban Attacks Afghan Airport","datePublished":"2015-12-09T07:07:52.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T22:22:03.000Z","description":"The heavily fortified military compound is used by Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces","url":"https://time.com/4142172/taliban-kandahar-airport-attack-afghanistan/","keywords":["Afghanistan","insurgency","Taliban","Attack"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5dea0aab39dd092/698874955f570fcf14b1ebdb/ap_353538504554.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joanna Plucinska","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5dea0aab39dd092/698874955f570fcf14b1ebdb/ap_353538504554.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Afghanistan","caption":"Afghanistan","creditText":"Allauddin Khan—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/afghanistan/","name":"Afghanistan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4142172/taliban-kandahar-airport-attack-afghanistan/","name":"At Least 37 Dead After Taliban Attacks Afghan Airport"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Dog Fighters of Kabul","description":"Throughout Afghanistan in the winter months, dog fighting is a common weekend pastime, with prize dogs worth as much as a new car.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/VXJ0q8b5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2011-03-02T19:02:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/VXJ0q8b5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4142172/taliban-kandahar-airport-attack-afghanistan/","duration":"PT3M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4142172/taliban-kandahar-airport-attack-afghanistan/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```