The Taliban are seeking to take over some areas in the northern provinces, National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib said on Tuesday during a trip to the northern province of Jawzjan.

In a meeting with First Vice President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum in Sheberghan city, the center of Jawzjan, Mohib said that the Afghan security forces will not allow the Taliban to control more areas in the north.

Dostum pledged that the people will not allow the Taliban to infiltrate the north of the country.

“We will try to launch our clearance operations before the enemy makes any attempt to further spoil the situation, we are trying to be well-prepared for spring to avoid a bigger tragedy,” said Mohib after the meeting with Dostum.

“God willing, we assure the Afghan people and our nation that we will demoralize the Taliban,” said Dostum.

Mohib meanwhile said that civilian casualties are unacceptable.

“Civilian casualties are not acceptable at any cost, we don’t want mistakes to happen again,” added Mohib.

Dostum said that talks were also held about the elections.

“We should have a political solution to this…on one side there is the government and on the other there are the political opponents, but the enemy is exploiting this political brawl. We also talked about this (the elections),” said Dostum.