By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
September 1, 2019
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — Taliban militants have reportedly launched a major attack on a second Afghan city, as the U.S. special envoy has said negotiators are on the threshold of an agreement to end the country’s nearly 18-year conflict.
A day after conducting a bloody assault on the strategically important northern city of Kunduz, Taliban militants on September 1 are attacking the Baghlan provincial capital of Puli Khumri, the spokesman for the police chief said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said militants had taken up positions in two areas of Puli Khumri and were battling Afghan security forces.
“The whole city is closed,” Safdar Muhsini, head of the Baghlan provincial council, said. “If the central government does not take quick action, the situation could get worse.”
The Interior Ministry said four civilians and two members of the security forces were killed, and 20 civilians and two members of the security forces wounded. It said three Taliban fighters had also been killed.
Shortly before that announcement, U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad had written on Twitterthat U.S. and Taliban negotiators were closing in on a deal as they concluded their eighth round of talks in Qatar.
“We are at the threshold of an agreement that will reduce violence and open the door for Afghans to sit together to negotiate an honorable and sustainable peace,” he wrote.
He did not give any specifics of the deal and added that he would be traveling to Kabul later in the day to consult with government officials there.
Khalilzad was visiting Kabul on September 1 to brief the Afghan government.
An unnamed senior Taliban negotiator told Reuters that “we will now discuss these developments with our own leadership, while Zalmay Khalilzad is supposed to go to Kabul and inform the Afghan leadership about the decisions made in the peace talks.”
Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, said both sides were in discussions to finalize technical issues after having successfully completed the current round of talks.
“We are on the verge of ending the invasion and reaching a peaceful solution for Afghanistan,” Shaheen said on Twitter on September 1.
On August 31, Afghan officials said Taliban militants attacked Kunduz from different directions, killing at least 15 people and wounding 75.
The office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Afghan security forces had repelled the attack in some parts of the city, while other officials said that more than 30 militants had been killed.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a Twitter post called the attack “large-scale,” while the police spokesman in Kunduz Province reportedly said the attack was “massive” and involved “intense” battles.
The Afghan Interior Ministry said at least 34 Taliban fighters were killed in ground and air operations in three areas of Kunduz city and that clearance operations were under way.
The Interior Ministry said on September 1 that at least 25 people, including 20 Afghan security forces, have been killed in the attack by Taliban militants on Kunduz city.
At least 85 others, including Afghan security forces and civilians, have been injured in the fighting, Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said.
Rahimi said the city is now fully cleared of Taliban presence.
Presidential spokesman Sediq Seddiqi told reporters the attack was “completely against the peace talks” taking place between the United States and the Taliban. Expectations that a breakthrough in the talks might lead to a peace deal, including a timetable for the withdrawal of thousands of U.S. troops, had been on the rise.
Khalilzad on August 31 tweeted that he had “raised the Kunduz attack in talks today, telling the Taliban that violence like this must stop.”
Khalilzad added that General Scott Miller, who commands U.S. forces in Afghanistan, had arrived in Kunduz to assist Afghan forces in defending the city.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on August 30 that the United States had good negotiations going on with the Taliban but had not yet reached a deal.
On August 29, Trump said that the United States will continue to maintain a force in Afghanistan even after a deal was agreed.
The Taliban has long demanded a complete pullout of all foreign forces from the country.
About 20,000 foreign troops, most of them American, are now in Afghanistan as part of a U.S.-led NATO mission to train, assist, and advise Afghan forces. Some U.S. forces carry out counterterrorism operations.
With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters
Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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This is a direct result of the Obama puppet Khalilzad appeasing the Taliban. Can you ever learn that appeasing murderers and terrorists simply empowers them?
*Your
extreme vulgar language
reveals
your
background and true identity !
•
you little
“dogs sht”
Indian field agent,
with assumed fake Islamic name),
just love to watch
regular young people
of
Afghanistan getting killed, (in
a deadly
conflict which is imposed and sponsored by international war criminals,
(on both sides) with no other available choice- all for no reason, whatsoever.
=======================
===========
====
YOU SEMI-RETARD
NEEDED TO GET CAGED- REALY !
•
THE
SAVAGELY-TRAINED
AND
BRAIN-WASHED
(blood-sucking)
SOLDIERS OF FORTUNES
ARE CAUSING
THE
KILLINGS
OF
THE
INNOCENT YOUNG PEOPLE
OF
AFGHANISTAN;
ON. BOTH SIDES.
•
*STOP; THE
FOREIGN SAVAGES
AND
THEIR IMPOSED SAVAGERIES !
•
*YOU
ARE ALL,
RESPONSIBLE (100 %) !
•
*It is
a
clear modern form of tactical warfares
on
innocent population centers- all
in
a
coward order
to
exclusively
subjugate and exploit,
(directly and/or indirectly),
the
rich
resources
of
Afghanistan !!!!!
*
*YES:
==========
“IMPOSED ANARCHIES”
ACROSS AFGHANISTAN
===================
AS LONG AS
THE
INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMINALS
COULD
GET AWAY
WITH IT ALL !
.
*OBVIOUSLY; THE
FOREIGN COWARDS
ARE
PLAYING
A
BIZARRE
FORM
OF
MILITARY GAME- ALL, PERPETUATED
ON
EXPENSE
OF
THE
COMMON INNOCENT FOLKS
OF
AFGHANISTAN !
•
*(100%) SURE;
THE
REGULAR
GOOD FOLKS,
(INSIDE AFGHANISTAN),
ARE, ALL,
LOOKING FORWARD
FOR
PEACE AND RESPECT !
•
*LEAVE
THEM ALONE !
•
*THEY ARE
ALL
JOCKEYING
FOR
MILITARY ADVANTAGE !
•
*AGAIN AND AGAIN;
ALL
ON
EXPENSE
OF
REGULAR COMMON FOLKS
OF
AFGHANISTAN !
•
And, all the
lurking
““thugs and thug-mars””
are
anxiously waiting
for
their exploits !
•
*Just,
like the behavior
of
the
wild lives
in
the
midst
of
a
wild
jungle !
•
*LET
PEACE
A
CHANCE !
•
NDS will soon find you and your Taliban agents.
*Crazy
“Indian agents”
have had been working
for
their masters as
servants, scouts and spies
for
more than two hundred years; ever since the
crazy
Englishman began
his
direct and indirect
attacks
on
Afghanistan proper back
then during their initial attacks;
(1790’s indirectly and early 1800’s directly).
•
*CHECK OUT
GRADE SCHOOL
HISTORY
BOOKS !
***
**
*
If you
even have
very simple reading ability.
•
*YOU
“KHAR”- JUST, GET LOST !
•