Taliban launches 33 attacks on Afghan forces post-peace talks

Hours after the peace deal was struck between the United States and Taliban at least a dozen of attacks have taken place on the Afghan army bases.

The US-Taliban deal was signed on Saturday in Doha and the intra-Afghan negotiations are to begin on March 10. With the attack it is doubtful whether peace talks between Kabul and the insurgents could be implemented.

There’s a dispute over a prisoner swap and questions have been raised on the matter.

According to the deal, the Taliban would free up to 1,000 prisoners and similarly the government in Kabul would release about 5,000 insurgent captives.

However, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani refused to negotiate over this before the peace meeting started. The Taliban cited release of its people as a prerequisite for talks.

International media reports the attacks were launched overnight in 13 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. In the southern Kandahar province two soldiers were killed while five more were killed in the Logar province.

Head of Logar provincial council, Hasib Stanekzai, said the Taliban made policemen as soft targets and the attacks were launched on them during the early morning.

Political analysts believe the Taliban wants to keep the attacks continued as this will help them win the negotiations on the peace table, something similar to what they did with the US.

A senior US official said investigate will start soon.

Afghanistan’s interior ministry spokeswoman said 33 attacks were launched in sixteen provinces against the Afghan forces.