-Afghan truce in shambles
-Trump talks to Mullah Baradar over telephone
-Taliban show conditional willingness to join intra-Afghan parleys
KUNDUZ: At least 20 Afghan soldiers and policemen were killed in Taliban attacks, government officials said Wednesday, hours after US President Donald Trump said he had had a “very good” chat with the insurgents´ political chief.
The militants have ramped up violence against Afghan security forces in recent days, ending a partial truce put in place during the run-up to a landmark US-Taliban withdrawal deal signed in Doha on Saturday.
“Taliban fighters attacked at least three army outposts in Imam Sahib district of Kunduz last night, killing at least 10 soldiers and four police,” said Safiullah Amiri, a member of the provincial council.
A defence ministry official speaking to media on condition of anonymity confirmed the army toll while the provincial police spokesman Hejratullah Akbari confirmed the police fatalities.
The insurgents also attacked police in central Uruzgan province Tuesday night, with the governor’s spokesman Zergai Ebadi telling media: “Unfortunately, six police were killed and seven wounded.”
The violence has cast a pall on the nascent Afghan peace process, with the insurgents clashing with Kabul over a prisoner exchange
dispute ahead of talks that are due to begin on March 10. But on Tuesday, Trump told reporters in Washington that he had a “very good” relationship with Taliban political chief Mullah Baradar, with the pair speaking on the phone for 35 minutes, according to the insurgents.
“The relationship is very good that I have with the mullah. We had a good long conversation today and you know, they want to cease the violence, they´d like to cease violence also,” he said.
Trump has touted the Doha deal as a way to end the bloody, 18-year US military presence in Afghanistan — right in time for his November reelection bid.
Under the terms of the deal, US and other foreign forces will quit Afghanistan within 14 months, subject to Taliban security guarantees and a pledge by the insurgents to hold talks with the national government in Kabul. The agreement also includes a commitment to exchange 5,000 Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government in return for 1,000 captives — something the militants have cited as a prerequisite for talks but which President Ashraf Ghani has refused to do before negotiations start. President Donald Trump spoke by phone to the leader of the Taliban, the militant group and the US leader said on Tuesday, days after Washington signed a historic deal with the militants.
Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said he had “a very good talk with the leader of the Taliban”, without naming him.
The 35-minute call came a day after the militants ended a partial truce and threw into doubt peace talks between Kabul and the militants that are due to begin on March 10, according to the US-Taliban agreement signed on Saturday.
A transcript of the phone call released by the Taliban quoted fighter-turned-negotiator Mullah Baradar urging Trump to “take determined actions in regard to the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan”. Under the terms of the US-Taliban agreement, foreign forces will quit Afghanistan within 14 months, subject to Taliban security guarantees and a pledge by the insurgents to hold talks with Kabul. But a dispute over a prisoner swap has raised questions about whether the negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban will go ahead.
The agreement includes a commitment to exchange 5,000 Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government in return for 1,000 captives something the militants have cited as a prerequisite for talks but which President Ashraf Ghani has refused to do before negotiations start.
Baradar called on Trump to “not allow anyone to take actions that violate the terms of the agreement thus embroiling you even further in this prolonged war”, according to the Taliban transcript.
Apparent differences between the Doha agreement and a joint US-Afghan declaration released in Afghanistan underline the obstacles facing negotiators.
The US-Taliban deal committed to the release of prisoners while the Kabul document only required both sides to determine “the feasibility of releasing” captives.
Since the deal signing, the Taliban have been publicly claiming “victory” over the US. The Taliban carried out dozens of attacks on Afghan army bases, officials said on Tuesday, hours after ending a partial truce and throwing into doubt peace talks between Kabul and the insurgents. In the last 24 hours the Taliban conducted 33 attacks in 16 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said.
