Afghanistan risks becoming failed state if the Taliban overthrow government ...

Afghanistan becoming a failed state is 'one of the scenarios that could occur' unless government forces can resist the Taliban, the head of the UK's armed forces said today.

General Sir Nick Carter said the Afghan forces had to reach a military stalemate with the Taliban, at which point peace talks could occur.

The Chief of the Defence Staff also warned the international community not to legitimise the Taliban and its leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who has recently held talks with senior figures in China.

In recent days there has been intense fighting for Lashkar Gah, the capital of blood-soaked Helmand province, as well as bombings targeting politicians in Kabul, in growing signs that the Taliban are intent on overthrowing the government.

In a bitter irony the jihadist commander leading the assault on Lashkar Gah, Mawlavi Talib, was released with 5,000 fighters in a deal with the United States last year.  

Now the Afghan forces, backed by the US, have launched air strikes in a last ditch effort to hang onto the Helmand stronghold. 

The fall of Lashkar Gah would be a major turning point in the offensive the Taliban have waged over the recent months as US and Nato forces complete their pullout from the war-torn country.

Helmand province was the location for some of the fiercest fighting involving British troops during the Afghanistan war, with Lashkar Gah the site of a major military base.

Asked whether Afghanistan could again become a failed state, Gen Carter said: 'That is one of the scenarios that could occur, but we have to get behind the current Afghan government and support them in what they are trying to do.

'And if they can achieve a military stalemate, then there will have to be a political compromise. Even the Taliban at the level of Baradar recognise that they can't - in inverted commas - conquer Afghanistan.

'There has to be a conversation. And the important thing is to achieve the military stalemate that can then bring on that conversation.'

Gen Carter told BBC Radio 4's Today there was a 'real risk' that 'we're giving far too much legitimacy to the Taliban movement'.

'There is a huge disparity between what Mullah Baradar is saying publicly, and what he's doing publicly in travelling around countries like Russia and China, and so on and so forth, and a disparity between what's actually happening on the ground. 

'And the international community has got to do much more about calling out the way that the people on the ground are trashing government buildings, they are threatening the population, there are reports of people being forced into marriages.'

He said there have been 'grisly videos of war crimes' and 'we mustn't let them get away with this - we've got to call them out'.

Gen Carter also acknowledged the UK had a 'huge moral responsibility' to the Afghans who helped British troops by acting as translators.

There was a 'serious moral commitment that we have to those who've helped us', he said, with no cap on the numbers who can come forward for help.

Four dead - including several attackers - and 20 hurt after gun and bomb assaults targeting defence minister in Afghan capital Kabul

By Chris Pleasance and Lauren Lewis

A car bomb followed by several blasts and gunshots shook Kabul on Tuesday Officials say the residence of the acting defence minister came under attack Minister was not in guesthouse at the time and his family have been evacuated Came as Taliban attack regional capitals in Afghanistan after US forces withdrew Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand, has been hardest hit as parts of city centre fall General Sami Sadat, the commander in charge of city's defence has urged civilians to evacuate ahead of an army offensive against the Taliban He also warned victory for the Islamists would inspire terror groups worldwide  'This is a war between liberty and totalitarianism ,' General Sami Sadat said

Four people have been killed and 20 wounded in a coordinated bomb and gun attack targeting the Afghan defence minister and several lawmakers. 

The wave of blasts, which Washington said bore the 'hallmarks' of the Taliban, came on Tuesday near the heavily fortified Green Zone, as the Afghan army urged residents to evacuate a besieged southern city ahead of a planned offensive against the insurgents after three days of heavy fighting.

Violence has surged across the country since early May when the Taliban launched a nationwide offensive soon after the US-led foreign forces began their final withdrawal.

Security officials told AFP news agency that four people were killed and 20 others wounded in Tuesday's attack, with medical charity Emergency saying four bodies of people killed in the assault had been brought to its facility in Kabul.

The interior ministry said the attack had been successfully repelled and all the attackers had been killed by security forces.

'A big number of people were rescued and the area is secured now,' spokesman Mirwais Stanikzai told reporters.

The first bomb blew up in central Kabul late on Tuesday, sending a thick plume of smoke into the sky, AFP correspondents reported.

Defence Minister Bismillah Mohammadi said it was a suicide car bomb attack targeting his house.

'Unfortunately some of my guards are wounded,' he added in a video message.

Less than two hours after the car bomb detonated, another loud blast followed by smaller explosions and rapid gunfire again shook Kabul, also near the high-security Green Zone that houses several embassies, including the US mission.

A security source said several attackers had stormed a lawmaker's house after setting off the car bomb and were also shooting at the residence of the defence minister from there.

'Several lawmakers were meeting at the house of this MP to make a plan to counter the Taliban offensive in the north,' the source told AFP. 

No group has yet claimed the attack, but Washington has pointed the finger at the Taliban.

'We're not in a position to attribute it officially just yet but of course it does bear all the hallmarks of the spate of Taliban attacks that we have seen in recent weeks,' State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

'We unequivocally condemn the bombing, and we continue to stand by our [Afghan] partners.' 

The Islamic Sate group has claimed some recent attacks in Kabul but most have gone unclaimed, with the government blaming the Taliban and the Taliban blaming the government. 

Hundreds of residents in the area were moved to safety, said Ferdaws Faramarz, spokesman for the Kabul police chief. He said earlier that security personnel were searching house to house should more attackers be hiding in the area.   

Even as the blasts and gunfire rocked the city, crowds of people marched down Kabul's streets and took to rooftops chanting 'Allahu Akbar' and 'Death to the Taliban' in support of Afghan forces battling the insurgents in three regional capitals.

'We are in support of Afghan forces and all those who are against the Taliban and fighting on the frontlines,' said Karim, a resident of Kabul who gave only one name. 

The insurgents' assaults on the cities of Lashkar Gah, Kandahar and Herat since last week have come after they seized control of much of rural

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