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.
