KABUL: At least 53 members of the Afghan security forces were killed in overnight attacks by the Taliban in five provinces,officials said on Monday.
A further 51 were wounded in the clashes that occurred in the Afghan provinces of Uruzgan, Takhar, Kapisa, Maidan Wardak and Balkh, according to the officials.
The deadliest incident was in southern Uruzgan province, where more than two dozen Afghan security forces were killed, according to local media reports and a provincial councillor who spoke said.
Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry said that 98 civilians were killed and 230 others had been injured by violence throughout Afghanistan in the past two weeks.
The surge in attacks comes despite peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government in Qatar, and as the world observes International Day of Peace. The US envoy for Afghan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, who orchestrated the talks, called the escalation regrettable. “Over the last few days, there has been a clear rise in violence in Afghanistan,” Khalilzad tweeted.
The Chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah, called on the Taliban to accept a ceasefire. “Our homeland has been burning in war and conflict for more than forty years and many lives have been lost in this endless war,” Abdullah said in a statement.
There is no doubt that people hate and are tired of the ongoing war and conflict in the country, he added. Historic peace talks started on September 12 in Doha, bringing together delegations from the warring sides the first time in 19 years. Despite this, however, people in Afghanistan are killed everyday.
Meanwhile, the Afghan government and Taliban fighters remain far apart on even the most basic issues a week into talks meant to end two decades of war that has killed tens of thousands of people.
— Agencies
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