The Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) on Friday said that the Taliban continued to stage attacks on a daily basis in at least 22 provinces of the country over the past week, stating that the group’s unstopped attacks were against the spirit of a political settlement of the conflict in Afghanistan and clear opposition to the will of the Afghan people for peace.
Based on the statistics, the Taliban conducted attacks and other security-related activities in at least 23 provinces of the country over the past 24 hours.
“The Taliban has kept violence very high, which is against the will of the people of Afghanistan, but members of the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces are retaliating harshly to all these attacks to ensure their safety and the security of the people,” said Fawad Aman, the deputy spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense. “The Taliban suffered heavy human toll as a result of counterattacks.”
Over the past week, the Taliban attacked various areas in the provinces of Nangarhar, Laghman, Nuristan, Ghazni, Logar, Maidan Wardak, Paktika, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Herat, Farah, Badghis, Faryab, Balkh, Jawzjan, Sar-e-Pul, Helmand, Kunduz, Baghlan, Takhar, and Badakhshan, according to Defense Ministry.
“The warring sides, particularly the Taliban have escalated the level of violence to score points in the view of the peace process. In recent years, the issue of peace was not at the level as it is today, and conflicts used to de-escalate during winters,” said Assadullah Sikandar, a military analyst.
“Our belief in peace gets strong if there is an end to the war or there is a reduction in violence and there is a ceasefire,” said Massoud Raghib, a former official of the Ministry of Interior.
Meanwhile, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Friday officially commenced the 47th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers which will discuss extremism, terrorism, Islamophobia, and the challenges facing the Muslim world.
“The Council will discuss the situation of Muslim minorities and communities in non-member states, fundraising for the Rohingya case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as well as the promotion of dialogue among civilizations, cultures and religions, and other emerging matters,” Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
“Our message in this conference is that the war in Afghanistan has no justification under Islam and that the Muslim world supports the peace process in Afghanistan and denounce the war as illegitimate so that the gains made in the past 18 years in the areas of civil rights and democracy are preserved and protected,” said Hamid Tahzib, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.
The OIC foreign ministers will also discuss, over two days, political, humanitarian, economic, social and cultural and other issues related to science and technology, the media, and the progress made in the implementation of the “OIC-2025: Plan of Action” document.
Deadliest country to be a civilian
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says “Afghanistan is one of the deadliest places in the world to be a civilian and that 50% of the country lives somewhere highly affected by armed conflict.”
