[ad_1]
KABUL: The US navy on Monday blamed the Taliban for a spate of assassinations of outstanding Afghans, the primary time Washington has immediately accused the rebel group of the killings.
The cost comes because the Afghan authorities and Taliban are due Tuesday to renew peace talks in Qatar, as either side search an finish to the long-running battle.
“The Taliban’s campaign of unclaimed attacks and targeted killings of government officials, civil society leaders & journalists must… cease for peace to succeed,” Colonel Sonny Leggett, spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, mentioned on Twitter.
The deputy governor of Kabul province, 5 journalists, and a outstanding election activist have been amongst these assassinated since November.
Afghan officers blame the Taliban for the killings, however the hardline group has denied the cost, whereas the rival Islamic State group says its fighters have been accountable for a few of them.
Leggett’s assertion comes because the Taliban accused US forces of finishing up air strikes in opposition to insurgents in Kandahar, Nangarhar and Helmand provinces in current days.
The Taliban mentioned the strikes violated an settlement signed in February that paved the way in which for the withdrawal of all overseas forces by May 2021.
Leggett mentioned the US would proceed to defend Afghan forces in opposition to Taliban assaults.
Violence has surged throughout Afghanistan, with the Taliban and authorities forces combating each day throughout swathes of rural areas.
The Taliban carried out greater than 18,000 assaults in 2020, Afghanistan’s spy chief Ahmad Zia Siraj advised lawmakers Monday.
Nishank Motwani of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit mentioned the insurgents wouldn’t declare accountability for the killings whereas peace talks have been ongoing, however however needed to display to its cadre “that the Taliban are who they are and have not changed”.
The cost comes because the Afghan authorities and Taliban are due Tuesday to renew peace talks in Qatar, as either side search an finish to the long-running battle.
“The Taliban’s campaign of unclaimed attacks and targeted killings of government officials, civil society leaders & journalists must… cease for peace to succeed,” Colonel Sonny Leggett, spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan, mentioned on Twitter.
The deputy governor of Kabul province, 5 journalists, and a outstanding election activist have been amongst these assassinated since November.
Afghan officers blame the Taliban for the killings, however the hardline group has denied the cost, whereas the rival Islamic State group says its fighters have been accountable for a few of them.
Leggett’s assertion comes because the Taliban accused US forces of finishing up air strikes in opposition to insurgents in Kandahar, Nangarhar and Helmand provinces in current days.
The Taliban mentioned the strikes violated an settlement signed in February that paved the way in which for the withdrawal of all overseas forces by May 2021.
Leggett mentioned the US would proceed to defend Afghan forces in opposition to Taliban assaults.
Violence has surged throughout Afghanistan, with the Taliban and authorities forces combating each day throughout swathes of rural areas.
The Taliban carried out greater than 18,000 assaults in 2020, Afghanistan’s spy chief Ahmad Zia Siraj advised lawmakers Monday.
Nishank Motwani of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit mentioned the insurgents wouldn’t declare accountability for the killings whereas peace talks have been ongoing, however however needed to display to its cadre “that the Taliban are who they are and have not changed”.
[ad_2]
Source link