The Afghan acting Minister of Defense Assadullah Khalid on Thursday said that there has been no decline in offensives by the enemy (Taliban), adding that the Afghan forces have been ordered to return to "active defense" position.

“There has been no reduction in the attacks of the enemy, today we ordered our forces to return to active defense position from defensive position,” said Khalid.

This comes a day after the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, said the United States would like to see the prisoner release begin as soon as possible in line with the US-Taliban peace agreement.

“No prisoners have been released to date, despite the commitment to do so expressed by both sides,” Khalilzad said in a series of tweets on Wednesday, as the Taliban press Washington to rapidly facilitate the prisoner release.

The statements come amid a political deadlock in the country following the election results between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah.

The US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells in a tweet said on Wednesday that the Afghan leaders must prioritize and protect the unity of the nation, saying that “parallel Afghan governments are not the answer, and will be harmful to the Afghan people.”

“Mr. Ghani’s demand is that he wants the elections to determine the credibility of the government while Dr. Abdullah insists that elections have been rigged and a new political agreement should determine the new government,” said Saleh Mohammad Registani, a political analyst in Kabul.

“All negotiations and meetings are dominated by males, therefore, the main victim of the political instability will be the women of Afghanistan,” said Fawzia Kofi, a former member of parliament.