KUNDUZ: The Taliban killed at least 20 Afghan soldiers and policemenin a string of overnight attacks, government officials said onWednesday, hours after US President Donald Trump said he had a “verygood” chat with their political chief.
The militants have ramped up violence against Afghan security forcesin recent days, ending a partial truce put in place during the run-upto a landmark US-Taliban withdrawal deal signed in Doha on Saturday.
“Taliban fighters attacked at least three army outposts in Imam SahibDistrict of Kunduz last night, killing at least 10 soldiers and fourpolice,” said Safiullah Amiri, a member of the provincial council.
A defence ministry official speaking on condition of anonymityconfirmed the army toll, while the provincial police spokesmanHejratullah Akbari confirmed the police fatalities.
The insurgents also attacked police in central Uruzgan provinceTuesday night, the governor’s spokesman Zergai Ebadi said,”Unfortunately, six police were killed and seven wounded.”
The violence has cast a pall on the nascent Afghan peace process, withthe insurgents clashing with Kabul over a prisoner exchange ahead oftalks that are due to begin on March 10.
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On Tuesday Trump told reporters in Washington that he had a “verygood” relationship with Taliban political chief Mulla Baradar, withthe pair speaking on the phone for 35 minutes, according to theTaliban.
Meanwhile, the US launched an airstrike against Taliban fighters todefend Afghan forces, an American military spokesman said. USForces-Afghanistan spokesman Sonny Leggett tweeted that the airstriketargeted Taliban fighters who were “actively attacking” an Afghanforces checkpoint in Helmand. “This was a defensive strike to disruptthe attack,” he tweeted.
“We call on the Taliban to stop needless attacks and uphold theircommitments. As we have demonstrated, we will defend our partners whenrequired.” He said Taliban had carried out 43 attacks on checkpointsin Helmand on Tuesday alone.
