Afghan govt: Taliban attacks decreasing

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: Although official numbers are not in from the Afghan government or military, TOLOnews’ Whatsapp reporting line only received notifications of three attacks, in Kapisa, Laghman and Farah.

For the previous day, Wednesday, March 4, the reported Taliban attacks were down to 11, according to NusratRahimi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior. Rahimi said there were 11 fatalities–both Afghan forces and civilians–in that time.

And the above numbers are a dramatic decrease from March 1-3, which was 76 reported attacks, with 30 Afghan soldiers and four civilians killed, as reported by Jawed Faisal, a spokesperson from the National Security Adviser’s office.

“The Taliban had attacked 76 in the first three days of March–that is in contradiction with the deal,” said Jawed Faisal, spokesman for the Office of National Security Advisor.

The Taliban’s resumption of attacks across Afghanistan–following the signed US-Taliban peace deal and President Ghani’s refusal to release 5,000 prisoners–sparked international and domestic condemnation and calls for violence to again be lessened.

On Wednesday, the US targeted Taliban fighters with an airstrike in Helmand province, which, according to a US forces spokesman, was the first in 11 days.

ZalmayKhalilzad, US special envoy for Afghanistan on Twitter called on the Taliban to work for peace. “Increasing violence is a threat to the peace agreement and must be reduced immediately,” Khalilzad tweeted.

The Foreign Ministry of Germany also demanded an immediate reduction in violence and said that Germany will keep a presence in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Afghanistan.

“Taliban attacks against the Afghanistan security forces must end immediately. It is of utmost importance that the international community does not leave Afghanistan alone now. Germany stands ready to continue its military engagement within the NATO training mission.”

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged the Taliban to keep their commitments.

“The Taliban must honor their commitments. We need to see reduction in violence and avoid undermining the agreement,” said Stoltenberg “NATO remains committed to Afghanistan’s security and stability. And we will continue to support the Afghan security forces with funding and with training.”(TOLOnews)