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KABUL: The High Peace Council asks the US negotiator for a ceasefire condition during talks with Taliban militants.
A group of armed men attacked the army’s 215 Maiwand Corps in the southern province of Helmand on Friday. The attack claimed by Taliban killed 23 army soldiers and wounded 16 others, according to a defense ministry statement.
The attack was carried out at a time when Taliban’s delegation is talking with the US envoy for Afghan peace Zalmay Khalilzad in the Qatari capita of Doha.
“These (Taliban attacks) are surely slaps to the face of the peace process,” a senior member of the high peace council, Mohammad Ismael Qasemyar said on Saturday.
“These attacks at least hurt the hearts of people who will hate more the attackers. I call on Mr. Khalilzad to not continue negotiations with the Taliban unless they observe at least a temporary ceasefire.”
The fifth round of talks are reportedly focusing on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and Taliban in return guarantee that Afghanistan soil would not be sued by terrorist groups to threaten the US and other Western countries’ security.
Taliban have recently intensified their activities in different provinces.
Meanwhile, Sayed Akbar Agha, a former Taliban official calls on the war parties to observe a truce. “The ceasefire has not yet observed. I think the war side should observe the ceasefire in the current situation. We need an urgent ceasefire. We ask the both sides not to prolong their problems and observe a ceasefire as soon as possible.”
He also called on the government forces and US troops to stop air attacks in which he said “only civilians are killed and injured”.
