KABUL, Sept 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Fighting in Afghanistan intensified, as over 70 people were killed over the past 24 hours, amid preparations for peace talks, to end the war in the conflict-battered country.
In the latest violent incident, the armed insurgents gunned down a soldier, in Jawand district, of the troubled Badghis province, Tuesday morning, member of the provincial council, Khan Jan Zafar, confirmed.
Meanwhile, Afghan warplanes targeted Taliban hideouts in Pashtrod district, of the western Farah province, killing 16 militants and wounding 11 others, said an army statement, released yesterday.
The security forces also killed five militants and injured three others, in Shahr-e-Safa district, of Zabul province, over the past 24 hours.
Fighting between security forces and the Taliban outfit, according to security officials, have claimed the lives of more than 50 fighters, with majority of them militants, and dozens others injured in other parts of the country over the period.
Both the Taliban and Afghan forces have intensified activities, amid efforts to bring the warring sides to the negotiating table.
Under the U.S.-Taliban peace deal, signed in Feb, the Afghan government set free more than 5,000 Taliban prisoners, in exchange for 1,000 Afghan security personnel, to facilitate direct talks to find a political solution to Afghanistan’s prolonged war.
However, the Taliban repeatedly delayed the talks, over what the group described “delay in prisoners’ release” by the Afghan government.
Rejecting the Taliban claim, presidential spokesman, Sediq Sediqi, told local media that, the government’s negotiating team is ready to fly to Qatar’s Doha, for talks with the Taliban, but the armed group’s unpreparedness has delayed negotiation.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Naeem Wardak, spokesman for the Taliban political office in Doha, reportedly accused the government of delaying the release of the inmates, saying, no talks would take place unless the process of Taliban prisoners’ release completes.– NNN-AGENCIES
