"I commend the Afghan security forces for the role they have played in defending against these attacks and restoring order in the city," he said in a statement from NATO headquarters in Brussels.

"Those who committed them made it clear, in their choice of targets, that their aim is to reverse the progress that Afghans are making in building better lives and a better future," Rasmussen said.

"They also illustrated their total disregard for the lives of Afghan citizens."

Taliban gunmen and bombers attacked buildings across the heart of Kabul on Monday, triggering fierce gun battles with security forces and killing at least five people including a child.

Fires raged after two shopping centres, a cinema and the only five-star hotel in the Afghan capital were targeted by heavily armed militants who set off a wave of explosions apparently targeting nearby government buildings.

Seventy-one people were also wounded in the most dramatic strike on Kabul since Taliban militants laid siege to government buildings in February 2009, killing at least 26 people.

NATO leads a force of more than 84,000 troops drawn from 43 nations, which aims to foster democracy, security and reconstruction in Afghanistan, but it is struggling to put down the Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked insurgency.

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