The Taliban violence remains high amid peace efforts
The data shows that clashes between the Afghan government and the Taliban have happened in Kunduz, Balkh, Samangan, Baghlan, Parwan, Maidan Wardak, Ghazni, Zabul, Uruzgan, Kandahar, Ghor, Badghis and Herat in the last two weeks.
The Taliban, according to officials and sources, have carried out attacks in cities, highways and strategic districts. Something that they had agreed not to conduct as part of the peace agreement.
The Taliban attacked a checkpoint of Afghan police in PD2 of Kunduz city on Sunday, killing nine policemen, according to security sources. On the same day, they attacked an outpost of Afghan forces in a northern highway that passes through Ali Abad district of Kunduz province, killing four security force members, officials and sources said.
The group conducted a suicide car bombing on a convoy of the Afghan National Army in Sayed Abad district, Wardak province, on Monday afternoon, in which eight Army personnel were killed and nine others were wounded. The Taliban said it was in retaliation for airstrikes on non-combat areas by the forces.
There has been a national and international call on the Taliban to reduce violence and open the way for intra-Afghan negotiations that are expected to be held in Doha in the near future. The Afghan government says the attacks and the high level of violence by the Taliban is unacceptable.
Talking to reporters on Tuesday, President Ghani’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi harshly reacted to recent Taliban attacks and said the group should realize that it will not win militarily and that the Afghan government’s silence does not show it is weak, but it shows its strength for the peace efforts.
He said the government “still recognizes the Taliban as a terror network” and that the group “must accept” the developments and changes in Afghanistan. He said they see the Taliban responsible for the hurdles in the peace process.
“The increase of violence by the Taliban is not acceptable to the Afghan government and the international community and it is a clear violation of the peace agreement that the Taliban signed with the United States on Feb. 29,” he said.
“They are conducting suicide attacks and blasts on their own soil, they are destroying schools and people’s houses here and there (in areas close to the Durand Line), they give the opportunity to the enemy to shell on our soil,” the National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib said in a visit to the east of the country this week.
The Taliban also conducted attacks on Afghan forces outposts in the northern province of Baghlan this week that resulted in the closure of the key northern highway that connects Kabul with provinces in the north of the country for two days.
“We have measures and plans to thwart any attempt they are trying to make in any area. We will establish bases in Chashma-e-Sheer area (in Baghlan) in the near future,” said Mohammad Mirwais Samimi, Baghlan police chief.
Security officials in the southern province of Kandahar said that the Taliban attacked an outpost of Afghan forces in Takhta Pul district in the province this week. In response, the officials said, US forces conducted an airstrike in the area, killing 25 Taliban fighters. A video of the airstrike on this area is dated July 14.
Kandahar Police Chief Gen. Tadeen Khan, meanwhile, said that in a separate incident in Maroof district of the province 14 Taliban figures were killed who had Pakistani identity cards.
“Foreign forces conducted airstrike in Takhta Pul district and meanwhile police have given them a tit-for-tat response in other districts,” said Jamal Barikzai, a spokesman for Kandahar police.
Source: Tolo News
