KABUL – The Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for an attack ineastern Afghanistan that the group said was part of its newly announcedspring offensive.
According to Afghan officials, Taliban fighters on Friday night detonatedtwo truck bombs in the Shirzad district of Nangarhar province, east ofKabul.
The assault came hours after the Taliban announced the start of OperationFath, the name the militants have given to this year’s spring offensive.
“Both sides have sustained casualties,” the Afghan defence ministry said. “Clashes are ongoing between (Afghan security forces) andTaliban terrorists.”
The Taliban, who frequently exaggerate numbers, claimed to have killed orwounded “more than 200 soldiers, police and militias”.
Nangarhar provincial governor spokesman Ataullah Khogyani said two Afghantroops had been killed, along with 27 Taliban fighters.
Another Taliban attack was reported around the edges of the northern cityof Kunduz, which the militants briefly captured in 2015.
Naeem Mangal, head of the Kunduz regional hospital, told AFP at least eightpeople were killed and 62 wounded.
In Ghor province in the west, at least seven Afghan security forces werekilled in a Taliban ambush, Ghor provincial governor spokesman Abdul HaiKhatibi told AFP.
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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s palace on Saturday condemned “in thestrongest words” the announcement of Operation Fath. “The continuation of war is no one’s interest,” thepalace said.
The spring offensive traditionally marks the start of the so-calledfighting season, though in reality fighting in recent winters has continuedunabated.
The United States is leading a push to forge a settlement with the Taliban,after nearly 18 years of war, and has held several meetings with Talibanofficials.
Later this month, Taliban officials are expected to meet with Afghanistanrepresentatives, including some officials from the Kabul government, in theQatari capital Doha.
The Taliban have long refused to speak officially with Kabul, dubbing thegovernment a “puppet” of the West, and the militants have insisted thatgovernment officials are attending only in a “personal capacity”.
The United Nations last week said it had lifted travel bans for 11 Talibandelegates, including Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a cofounder of theIslamist movement and its top political leader, as well as Sher MohammadAbbas Stanikzai, the Taliban’s former deputy minister of foreign affairs.
“The requested exemption is solely for travels required for participationin peace and reconciliation discussions,” the UN Security Council said. -APP/AFP
