TOLOnews findings show that the Taliban has carried out 2,162 attacks against government forces following the one-week reduction in violence (RIV) that started on February 22 and led to the signing of a peace agreement between the US and the Taliban.

The findings show that the Afghan forces – who now claim to be in an active but defensive mode against the Taliban – have conducted 302 operations in response to the Taliban during this period – March 3 to April 7.

Before the RIV week, the Taliban conducted over 70 attacks a day, according to sources, while TOLOnews findings show that during the reduction in violence period, the security incidents dropped to as low as 12 to 15 per day. But the findings also show that after the RIV period, the Taliban conducted 31 to 96 attacks on Afghan forces per day while government forces responded with between 1 to 17 operations a day.

TOLOnews findings show that the Taliban conducted 195 attacks on Afghan forces outposts and their convoys from February 22 to Feb. 28, a time period that includes the reduction in violence week in which the group pledged to keep its attacks low. During this period, the group conducted 11 to 27 attacks on Afghan forces in a day.

During the RIV week, Afghan forces conducted 74 attacks – 1 to 20 attacks a day, the findings show.

The findings also reveal that the Taliban conducted 45 attacks on the first day after the end of the RIV week – on March 1 – a day after the signing of the US-Taliban agreement.

“Taliban attacks have dramatically increased after the reduction in violence week, and it still continues,” Defense Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman said. “The security and defense forces thwarted Taliban attacks within the framework of the defensive status,” said Aman.

The Taliban has said that some of their attacks in some provinces have been in response to night raids and operations by Afghan forces.

Analysts question the independence of the Taliban’s leadership to make own their decisions, and they also doubt their control over their fighters on the battlefields   

“They (the Taliban) are not independent in their decisions,” said Mirza Mohammad Yarmand, former deputy minister of interior affairs, who called the US-Taliban agreement incomplete.

“They (the Taliban) do not have full control over their fighters for two reasons: First, some of their fighters are foreign nationals, and, second, they are faced with an internal rift,” said Zahir Azimi, a retired Army general.