Dozens of Afghan soldiers have been killed in clashes with Taliban since peace talks began
At least 57 members of Afghanistan’s security forces have lost their lives and dozens of others sustained injuries in clashes with the Taliban militants across the country over the past week, amid long-awaited peace talks between the two sides.
Sayed Mohammad Sadat, the deputy governor of the central Afghan province of Uruzgan, said Sunday night was the bloodiest clash in the week as 24 members of the security forces were killed in a Taliban attack on checkpoints.
Clashes and casualties were also reported in the provinces of Takhar, Helmand, Kapisa, Balkh, Maidan Wardak and Kunduz, provincial officials told Reuters.
Monir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for the Balkh provincial governor, said the Taliban took hostage three members of Afghanistan's intelligence organization, the National Directorate of Security, in the northern province.
Meanwhile, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said Taliban attacks had killed nearly 100 civilians and injured 230 others in the past two weeks across 24 provinces.
Afghanistan sees the recent bloodshed against the backdrop of peace talks that commenced in the Qatari capital of Doha on September 12 following months of delay over a contentious prisoner swap between the two sides.
The negotiations are the result of a deal between the Taliban and the United States signed in February, which also paved the way for the withdrawal of all foreign forces by May next year.
Under the deal with Washington, the Taliban agreed to stop their attacks on US-led foreign forces in return for the US withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and a prisoner swap with the government.
The Afghan government was a party neither to the negotiations nor to the deal, but it has been acting in accordance with its terms, including by agreeing to free the Taliban prisoners.
Official data shows that bombings and other assaults by the Taliban have surged by 70 percent since the militant group signed the February deal.
The United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban-run government in 2001 on the pretext of fighting terrorism following the September 11 attacks in New York.
American forces have since remained bogged down in Afghanistan through the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump.
About 2,400 US soldiers have been killed, along with unknown numbers of Afghan troops and Taliban militants. More than 100,000 Afghans have been killed or injured since 2009, when the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan began documenting casualties.
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