The Taliban has staged attacks on the centers of at least 50 districts in 16 provinces of the country following the signing of the peace deal with the US in Doha in February and most of these attacks happened in the last two months after the start of the negotiations in Qatar on September 12, sources from various provinces Thursday.
The sources said that in some of these districts the Taliban captured centers of districts or their attack led to continued clashes between the group and the Afghan forces.
The provinces include Uruzgan, Kandahar, Helmand, Farah, Nimroz, Herat, Badghis, Faryab, Jawzjan, Sar-e-Pul, Balkh, Samangan, Baghlan, Kunduz, Takhar and Badakhshan.
Gizab and Khas districts in Uruzgan are also among fragile districts where clashes are ongoing between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban.
“Dehrawood district has fallen (to the Taliban) … Gizab district has also fallen to the Taliban. Even Khas district has fallen to the Taliban,” said Amanullah Hotaki, a former member of the provincial council in Uruzgan.
“They (Taliban) overran Yumgan district. They also launched offensives on Keran Wa Manjan, Warduj, Jurm, Khash, Nusay, Raghistan, Kohistan including some areas in the suburbs of Faizabad,” said Abdullah Naji Nazari, member of Badakhshan provincial council.
Meanwhile, a lawmaker and two members of the Badakhshan provincial council said that Maymay district in the province fell to the Taliban on Wednesday.
“Attacks were launched on Imam Sahib, Dasht-e-Archi, Khan Abad, Ali Abad, and Qala-e-Zal districts—in Kunduz,” said Rabbani Rabbani, member of Kunduz provincial council.
Data by ministries of Defense and Interior Affairs reveal that over the last six months, the Taliban has carried “dozens of attacks across the country, including 50 suicide attacks in which over 1,200 civilians have been killed.”
“In cooperation with the foreign terrorists, they (Taliban) staged major offensives, but the brave members of the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces retaliated to these attacks with full force,” said Rohullah Ahmadzai, spokesman for Ministry of Defense.
“1,210 civilians were martyred and 2,500 more were wounded in Taliban attacks,” said Tariq Arian, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior Affairs.
The Taliban have not commented on the report.
Violence has intensified in various parts of the country despite ongoing efforts in Doha by negotiating teams of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban.
This comes as US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in a tweet on Thursday said that in a meeting with Uzbekistan FM Abdulaziz Kamilov they discussed “the current status of Afghanistan peace negotiations and the importance of an immediate reduction in violence.”