“We believe these attacks are perpetrated by those whom oppose the establishment of peace and Islamic system in our homeland,” read the Taliban statement, adding the group targets only the “enemy” who are “actively engaged” in the battlefield.
Afghanistan already gripped with decades-long war has been witnessing a surge in killings and assassinations targeting journalists, representatives from the civil society, clerics and/or government officials, often unclaimed, but with Afghan government constantly pointing the blame at the Taliban.
The spokesman for the U.S. forces in Afghanistan Sonny Leggett also blamed the Taliban for the “unclaimed attacks” and “targeted” assassinations of government employees, journalists and civil society activists calling on the group to end it.
“The Taliban’s campaign of unclaimed attacks & targeted killings of government officials, civil society leaders & journalists must also cease for peace to succeed,” according to the spokesman.
In the battlefield, intensified hostilities have been inflicting heavy casualties on combatants from both sides despite peace efforts of the two negotiating teams who push for bringing the war of Afghanistan to an end.
Afghan government’s peace negotiation team left Kabul for Doha on Tuesday to resume peace talks with the Taliban after a three-week break.
Officials from both sides announced they began the next round of peace negotiations Wednesday evening and decided to discuss the items of the peace talks agenda on Saturday next week.
In the first round of talks which lasted for three months, negotiators from the two sides agreed on a code of conduct for the talks and exchanged a list of the items of a draft agenda ahead of taking the recess.
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