KABUL: Fighting in Afghanistan has gotten impetus as more than 50 fighters including 10 security personnel were killed over the past 24 hours as the government and Taliban militia are preparing for peace talks.
Amid increasing fighting, the warring sides have been accusing each other of sabotaging the peace process.
In the latest wave of violent incidents, Taliban militants attacked security checkpoints of pro-government militiamen in Darazin area of Pato district in central Daikundi province Saturday morning, killing five and wounding four others, provincial police spokesman Gul Aqa Sajadi said. Three militants were also killed in the fight that lasted for hours, the official added.
The Taliban outfit, which accuses the government of sabotaging the peace talks, has yet to confirm the attack.
Taliban militants have also blamed the government for intentionally delaying the release of prisoners to facilitate the intra-Afghan dialogue.
Suhail Shaheen, the spokesman for the Taliban political office in Doha has reportedly said that the intra-Afghan dialogue would take place within a week “if the Kabul administration set free all the 5,000 prisoners” demanded by the armed group.
The exchange of 5,000 Taliban inmates with 1,000 Afghan troopers is part of the so-called U.S.-Taliban peace deal signed in late February to facilitate the intra-Afghan dialogue, pave the way for the withdrawal of foreign forces and to end the war in Afghanistan. The Afghan government has released more than 5,000 prisoners but has still held 380 controversial inmates, although Afghan president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has inked the decree for their release.
A senior government official, Wahid Omar said recently that the Taliban has “no political and cultural assets, except imposing violence” for the talk. The Taliban-led violent incidents, according to a statement of Interior Ministry released on Thursday, had claimed the lives of 121 civilians and wounded 336 others over the past two weeks. Observers predict more fighting and violent incidents ahead of the peace talks.
“Both the warring sides, particularly the Taliban would spare no efforts to gaining more grounds to secure an upper hand at the direct talks with the government expected within weeks,” retired brigadier Noorul Haq said.
Meanwhile, five insurgents have been confirmed dead and three others injured as government forces launched operations in the troubled Kofab district of Afghanistan’s northern Badakhshan province on Saturday, spokesman for provincial government Nik Mohammad Nazari said.
Aimed at stabilizing security, the operation was launched in parts of the restive Kofab district early Saturday and so far five armed insurgents have been killed and three more injured, the official said, adding the crackdown would last until the district is cleared of militants. Ten more militants, according to the official, had been killed in parts of Badakhshan province on Friday.
Taliban militants, who are operational in parts of the troubled Badakhshan province, haven’t made a comment yet.–Agencies
