Intra-Afghan peace talks are scheduled to be held in Qatar later this month but the government led by Ashraf Ghani has stated that last week was the bloodiest in the country’s 19 years of fighting. As per the government, over 422 attacks were carried out by the Taliban insurgents last week, killing close to 300 security personnel and wounding 550 others. According to the National Security Council, the attacks took place in 32 provinces .
“The Taliban’s commitment to reduce violence is meaningless, and their actions inconsistent with their rhetoric on peace,” said spokesperson of the National Security Council Javid Faisal on June 22, Monday.
The head of the internal security commission of the Afghan parliament, Khan Agha Rezaee, stated, “There is insecurity, there is war, highways are on the verge of collapse, there is terror, there is kidnapping.”
The Taliban has however rejected the claims made by the National Security Council, and in a statement denied the charge of intensifying the attacks on the security apparatus, adding that “such reports could damage the negotiation process”.
On Monday morning, in the latest in a series of deadly attacks across the country, five employees of the attorney general’s office lost their lives in an attack in Kabul’s Deh Sabz district. All of them were traveling in a vehicle at the time of the attack.
On June 21, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), in its latest report, stated that at least 15 attacks were carried out targeting health facilities between March 11 to May 23. The UN body accused the Taliban and Afghan forces of carrying out deliberate attacks of violence which undermined healthcare operations. The report found that 12 attacks had been carried out deliberately, of which, eight were by the Taliban insurgents and three by the Afghan national forces.
The Taliban was also involved in the abduction of 23 healthcare workers in seven separate incidents, the UNAMA report said.
