Nine Afghan Soldiers Killed As Negotiations Between Government, Taliban Continue

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 21, 2020

At least nine Afghan soldiers were killed in an attack late on September 20 despite ongoing negotiations between the Taliban and the Kabul government.

Taliban militants killed the nine soldiers during the night in the northern province of Takhar, security officials said.

The attack took place in the Naw Abad village of the Dasht-e-Qala district, a source told Tolo news agency.

“The clashes ended after an hour and the Taliban has also suffered casualties in the clashes but there is no exact information yet,” the source said.

The attack came as both sides are holding peace talks in the Gulf state of Qatar.

The talks, part of a February agreement between the Taliban and Washington, began on September 12 following a lengthy dispute over prisoner swaps.

Negotiators are due to discuss the cease-fire, the rights of women and minorities, and the disarming of tens of thousands of Taliban fighters and militias loyal to warlords, some of them aligned with the government.

Despite the talks, attacks have continued on a regular basis, claiming numerous victims, including civilians, as the militants have refused to declare a cease-fire.

The U.S. 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 cease-fire.

“Our homeland has been burning in war and conflict for more than 40 years and many lives have been lost in this endless war,” Abdullah said in a statement.

Based on reporting by dpa and tolonews.com

Copyright (c) 2020. 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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Taliban Wants ‘Islamic System’ of Government as Focal Point of Afghan Talks

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Taliban militants (file photo)

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
September 19, 2020

ISLAMABAD – Delegates of Afghanistan’s government and the Taliban continue finalizing “rules of negotiations” for a power-sharing deal a week after the two foes launched their historic U.S.-brokered direct peace dialogue.

Meanwhile, battlefield hostilities between Afghan forces and Taliban insurgents continued to inflict heavy casualties on both sides and deepen a mutual trust deficit at the negotiating table.

The insurgents have rejected calls for a cease-fire until they negotiate a broader political deal over the future of Afghanistan in the ongoing dialogue being hosted by Qatar.

The two negotiating teams have held daily meetings but have shared few details about the intra-Afghan dialogue that began September 12 in Doha, the Qatari capital.

In a weekly commentary published Saturday, the Taliban insisted it has, from the outset, called for the establishment of an “Islamic system” of governance in Afghanistan to be a “focal point of discussions.”

The radical group asserted it “believes” the Islamic system could only bring peace and solve problems facing Afghanistan, including corruption and other criminal activities.

The Taliban denounces the existing Afghan ruling system as illegal and a product of what it calls America’s occupation of the country.

The Afghan government vehemently defends the political system as “fully Islamic” and has vowed not to compromise on it in the ongoing discussions with the insurgent interlocutors.

The peace negotiations in Doha are an outcome of the deal the U.S. signed with the Taliban in February to withdraw about 8,600 American troops remaining in the country by May 2021 and close out America’s longest war.

Trump’s take on Taliban

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump described the Taliban as “tough” and “smart,” saying his administration was dealing well with the insurgents.

“We’ll be down very shortly over the next couple of weeks to 4,000 — less than 4,000 [service members] in Afghanistan. And then we’ll make that final determination a little bit later on,” Trump told reporters.

“We’re dealing very well with the Taliban. They’re very tough, they’re very smart, they’re very sharp … So, we’re having some very good discussions with the Taliban, as you probably heard … And so, we’ll be out of there, knowing that certain things have to happen — certain things have to be fulfilled,” Trump underscored.
A U.S.-led foreign military alliance invaded Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban from power days after the September 11, 2001 terror strikes on the U.S. that al-Qaida leaders orchestrated from their Afghan sanctuaries.

Trump is seeking re-election November 3 and terminating what he often denounces as America’s “endless war” in Afghanistan has been a key campaign promise.

The Afghan war has cost Washington the lives of more than 2,400 U.S. service members and hundreds of billions of dollars.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this week cautioned that intra-Afghan negotiations will be a “difficult” process, but it will help reduce the cost of war for the U.S.

A recent survey by the nonprofit Eurasia Group Foundation found strong public support among Republican and Democratic voters for Trump administration-backed peace talks to end the 19-year-old U.S. war in Afghanistan.

The U.S.-Taliban pact binds the insurgents to disallow international terrorism from Afghan soil and engage in peace talks with rival Afghan factions to end the deadly conflict.

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Afghan Air Strikes Target Taliban Militants, But Civilians Also Reported Killed

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 19, 2020

Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry says more than 30 Taliban militants have been killed in air strikes in the country’s north, although provincial officials said civilians were also among the dead.

The ministry said two air strikes targeted a Taliban base in the Khan Abad district of the northern province of Kunduz, a stronghold of the militants, on September 19.

Provincial officials said at least 12 civilians were killed and more than 10 wounded in the air strikes.

The deadly strikes came as Afghan and Taliban representatives hold peace talks in the Gulf state of Qatar.

“The first strike hit the Taliban base, but the second one caused civilian casualties as they had gathered at the bombed site,” said Fatima Aziz, a member of parliament who represents Kunduz.

The ministry did not confirm any civilian deaths but said an investigation was under way.

In a statement, the Taliban denied its fighters were hit and said 23 civilians had been killed.

The air strikes came after overnight clashes between Afghan forces and Taliban militants in Khan Abad district.

Esmatullah Moradi, the spokesman for the governor of Kunduz, said three Afghan soldiers were killed in the clashes.

Kunduz city, the provincial capital, briefly fell to the Taliban in 2015 and has come under attack several times since then.

While the government controls the city, many rural areas of Kunduz Province are controlled or contested by the Taliban.

Violence has surged across Afghanistan, despite the start of the talks on September 12 that are aimed at reaching a political settlement to end the nearly 19-year-old war.

Roland Kobia, the European Union’s special envoy to Afghanistan, said on September 18 that UN figures show violence in Afghanistan in the last five weeks has been the highest in the last five years.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.