Taliban kill 14 troops; no ceasefire plans in sight
Local and international forces brace for a bloody winter despite peace talks
KABUL : The Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack that killed at least 14 Afghan soldiers on Monday, diminishing hopes for a nationwide ceasefire proposed by the US government.
The insurgents attacked a checkpoint in the northern Jawzjan province, the province’s spokesman Abdul Marouf Azar said by phone. Five soldiers were wounded and two soldiers are missing, he said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed responsibility, and added that the leadership of the Taliban is yet to decide whether to accept the proposed ceasefire.
The US and Taliban are holding talks in Doha, Qatar, where the Taliban has a political office. A temporary ceasefire would offer a window in which the two sides could sign a peace accord and end the 18-year war in Afghanistan.
On Monday, the group denied agreeing to any ceasefire after rumours swirled of a potential deal.
The statement from the insurgents comes as local and international forces brace for another bloody winter amid renewed US-Taliban talks, after President Donald Trump called off the negotiations earlier this year over insurgent attacks.
“In the past few days, some media have been releasing untrue reports about a ceasefire... The fact is that, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has no ceasefire plans,” the Taliban said, after multiple media reports, including a story in the Wall Street Journal, suggested the group was on the verge of announcing some type of temporary truce.
The US and the Afghan government in Kabul have long called for a ceasefire with the Taliban, including during the year of negotiations between Washington and the militants that were abruptly called off by Trump in September.
However, the insurgents have repeatedly stated that any potential truce will only be ironed out after American troops withdraw from the country.
The US-Taliban talks, held mainly in Doha, were aimed at allowing Washington to begin withdrawing troops in return for various security guarantees.
They were on the brink of a deal when Trump abandoned the effort in September, citing Taliban violence. Negotiations have since restarted in Doha, but were earlier this month put on a “pause”.
Trump is looking to slash the troop presence in Afghanistan, potentially even before a deal between Washington and the Taliban is cemented.
Deadly bouts of fighting continue however, with tens of thousands of Afghan security forces killed since they inherited combat operations from NATO at the end of 2014.
Every day Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt of the bloody conflict. The country passed a grim milestone this year, with more than 100,000 killed or wounded over the past decade, the United Nations said last week.
A UN tally found last year was the deadliest on record, with at least 3,804 civilian deaths caused by the war -- including 927 children. Afghanistan is also struggling with an ongoing political dispute after officials announced preliminary results in the latest presidential elections that put President Ashraf Ghani on track to secure a second term.
Election authorities have yet to declare the results as final after receiving more than 16,000 complaints about the polls, with the ultimate tally expected in the coming weeks. The Taliban have long viewed Ghani as an American stooge and have refused to negotiate with his government.