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Taliban and Afghan authorities forces clashed throughout Afghanistan hours after the start of long-awaited peace talks in Doha on Saturday, officers stated, underscoring the uphill problem of settling a 19-year insurgency.
Talks between the 2 sides had been to start shortly after a US-Taliban settlement in February, however started solely over the weekend after months of delays, brought on partially by persevering with Taliban offensives within the war-torn nation.
“With the start of intra-Afghan talks we were expecting the Taliban to reduce the number of their attacks, but unfortunately their attacks are still going in high numbers,” Fawad Aman, a spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry, stated.
Representatives from numerous nations who spoke on the inauguration of the peace talks known as on the Taliban to announce a direct ceasefire earlier than negotiators sat down to discover a approach to finish a long time of battle in Afghanistan.
The Taliban didn’t say something a few attainable ceasefire on the ceremony.
Achieving a big discount in violence and the way to get to a everlasting ceasefire can be among the many first points the perimeters would focus on after they meet on Sunday, the pinnacle of Afghanistan’s peace council, Abdullah Abdullah, informed Reuters on Saturday.
No assembly between the 2 has been reported by both aspect in Doha on Sunday, however Qatar’s state information company reported groups led by Taliban’s political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdullah had met the Qatari Emir.
Aman stated that, on Friday, the eve of the inauguration of the talks, the Taliban had carried out 18 assaults towards authorities forces and installations throughout the nation, inflicting heavy casualties.
“We don’t have exact information about Taliban attacks on Saturday, but I can say the number of attacks has increased instead of decreased”.
Taliban assaults on Saturday night time had been confirmed by officers within the provinces of Kapsia and Kunduz.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated in an announcement that the rebel group attacked a convoy of Afghan forces that had arrived to launch an operation alongside a key freeway in Kunduz.
He added that safety forces carried out air and artillery strikes on Saturday night time within the provinces of Baghlan and Jowzjan.
(Reporting by Abdul Qadir Sediqi in Kabul, Writing by Gibran Peshimam; enhancing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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