AT News
KABUL: Intelligence Chief, Ahmad Zia Saraj says that a major vacuum has been created in the Taliban leadership as the group is fractured between Quetta and Peshawar shuras (councils).
Speaking at a news conference on Saturday in Kabul, the Afghan security and defense officials briefed the media about the recent security development in the country.
Saraj said that the National Directorate of Security (NDS) arrested a group of nine members who intended to attack the second vice president Mohammad Sarwar Danesh.
National Security Advisor Hamdullah Moheb said that the Taliban included some drug traders in the list of their prisoners who were earlier released as part of the insurgents peace deal with the U.S. signed in February 2020. He called on the Taliban to provide a list that doesn’t include drug traffickers if the group seeks the release of its prisoners. Moheb accused the Taliban of being reluctant for peace, saying that the group is insisting on prolonging of violence. He also says of a Pakistan delegation to arrive in the near future in Kabul to discuss the conflictive issues between the two countries.
Yasin Zia, the army chief of staff said that NATO forces were presently settled in Bagram, Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif bases and that the Afghan security forces took responsibility for the rest of the bases.