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KABUL: Taliban militants claim that the US military had launched airstrikes on civilians in the south, inflicting casualties on them. The insurgents said the strikes violate a February peace deal the militants signed with Washington.
Suhail Shahin, spokesman of the group’s political office in Qatar, said on Friday that the aerial attacks happened in the Shah Joy district of Zabul and Maiwand district of the adjacent Kandahar province.
“The American troops attacked civilian targets in Helmand, Ghazni and Zabul provinces with drones. This is against the peace agreement and unacceptable for the Islamic Emirate,” Shahin said, referring to the term of Emirate the group used while in power (1996-2001).
Under the peace agreement, the two sides stop targeting each other. Taliban have not attacked US targets since then.
The NATO-led Resolute Support didn’t comment to the allegation, but it previously defended similar attacks as part of support for Afghan forces.
Military experts say that such attacks indicate that the US is not happy with what Taliban do in reduction in violence.
“The intra-Afghan talks need to be held soon to resolve problems of Afghans,” said Abdul Baqi Amin, head of the Qased strategic center.
Bari Arez, another analyst believes that the recent attacks are pressure on the Taliban to reduce violence.
The US accuses Taliban of not doing according to the peace agreement.
