Violence has expanded to 28 out of 34 provinces in Afghanistan in the last 24 hours amidst constant obstacles to the start of direct peace negotiations between the Kabul government and the Taliban, the Defence Ministry said.
“The Taliban staged attacks on the checkpoints and bases of the government forces in 28 provinces over the past 24 hours, but the government forces repelled their attacks and inflicted heavy casualties to them,” TOLO News quoted Ministry spokesman Rohullah Ahmadzai as saying on Friday night.
Last month, the Taliban launched a brazen attack on Lashkargah city, the Helmand province center, leaving thousands of people homeless.
Provinces, where the fresh spate of violence reported, are Uruzgan, Badghis, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Balkh, Paktia, Takhar, Jawzjan, Khost, Zabul, Sar-e-Pul, Ghazni, Ghor, Faryab, Farah, Kabul, Kapisa, Kunduz, Kandahar, Kunar, Laghman, Logar, Maidan Wardak, Logar, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Nimroz, Herat and Helmand.
In a report this week, the US said that the level of violence has continued to remain high despite the peace efforts, which was officially launched in Doha on September 12.
According to the report, 2,117 civilians were killed in Afghanistan’s conflicts and attacks over the last nine months.
In the latest incident, the Taliban attacked security outposts in the province of Kunduz on Thursday evening, killing at least one security force member and injuring three others.
