US’s Blinken says Taliban actions ‘inconsistent’ with pursuit of peace

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Taliban’s actions are inconsistent with the pursuit of a peaceful resolution, as the militant group intensifies attacks to overtake territory in Afghanistan.

Blinken said on a visit to Paris on Friday that Washington suspected whether the Taliban were serious about peace, even though the US reached an agreement with the militants last year.

“We’re looking very carefully at the situation on the ground in Afghanistan,” he said. “Actions that try to take the country by force, of course, are totally inconsistent with finding a peaceful resolution.”

He said, “We are seeing elevated attacks on the Afghan security forces in certain parts of the country compared to a year ago.”

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But he said that “the status quo would not have helped... The status quo was not an option.”

About 650 US troops are expected to remain in Afghanistan to provide security for diplomats, according to US officials, as other US-led NATO forces pull out. And several hundred US forces will remain at the Kabul airport, potentially until September, to assist Turkish troops who have taken up the task of providing security for the airport, the officials told NBC on the condition of anonymity.

Taliban claim are in control of 80% of Afghanistan

Meanwhile, the Taliban said they had taken control of 80 percent of the country.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said that the militants were now in control of 163 districts across the country, ABC reported.

“There are other districts where only the center is held by the Kabul administration, but the surrounding areas are in our control,” Shaheen claimed. “So, calculating all of them, it is more than 80 percent of the territory being held by our forces.”

Afghan forces retake two districts from Taliban after days of fierce fighting

Afghan security forces retake two northern districts from the Taliban.

Deborah Lyons, the head of the United Nations (UN) Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the Taliban were positioning themselves to seize regional capitals “once foreign forces are fully withdrawn.”

“For the Taliban to continue this intensive military campaign would be a tragic course of action,” Lyons said.

According to Afghan media reports, the Taliban are advancing in rural areas and near the capital, Kabul.

But Andrew Watkins of the International Crisis Group said, “The fall of Kabul is not imminent.”

“The Taliban is not an unstoppable military juggernaut,” he told AFP.

Five years of ruling Afghanistan by the Taliban came to an end following the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.

The Taliban claimed on Sunday that they were committed to peace talks with Kabul. The head of the Taliban’s political office, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, said in a statement that they were committed to the intra-Afghan peace talks, while calling for the implementation of a “genuine Islamic system” in the country.

Talks have been held between the Afghan government and the Taliban on and off since the US reached its own deal with the militants. It was unclear if any negotiations were underway presently.

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