Afghan security guards walk during a Taliban attack in Ghazni city, Afghanistan August 12, 2018.
The Taliban are preparing to send a delegation for further talks with U.S. officials about ending the conflict in Afghanistan, two officials involved with the process said on Tuesday, adding that the meeting could address a possible prisoner swap.
The two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Taliban leaders were meeting to discuss the makeup of the three- or four-person delegation and the subjects to be discussed.
They said the Taliban would like to discuss an exchange of prisoners and could hold another meeting soon if the United States showed seriousness in talks by releasing prisoners.
In a string of coordinated armed assaults in Afghanistan, the Taliban killed more than 50 security personnel while the government forces killed at least 150 militants, officials and local media confirmed on Monday.Amruddin Danishjo, member of the Jawzjan provincial council, told Anadolu Agency the Taliban overran a number of security check points in Khamaab district of the province, killing 10 security personnel. The Taliban have also surrounded 50 security personnel in the district center, cutting their supply lines.A number of former pro-government militants have joined the Taliban in Jawzjan, he added.According to local Tolo News, the Taliban have created check points on the main highway linking Jawzjan with neighboring Sar-e-Pul province, posing a grim threat to the provincial center. Zabihullah Amani, governor of Sar-e-Pul, urged the Kabul government to urgently send additional troops to safeguard the province from falling to the Taliban.Meanwhile, officials in Madian Wardak province confirmed on Monday scores of security personnel were killed in multiple raids on check points by the Taliban in the Daimurad district since Sunday night. Abdul Waheed, secretary of the provincial council, told Anadolu Agency the security forces pushed Taliban out of the district center after deadly clashes resulting in killings of more than 40 security personnel.Deadly clashes have also been reported in Kunduz province bordering Tajikistan.The Ministry of Defense noted in an official statement that 52 Taliban were killed in Maidan Wardak and at least 100 more in Paktia, Baghlan, Uruzgan, Ghazni, Helmand, Farah and Nangarhar provinces following air and ground operations.US Defence Secretary makes unannounced visit to AfghanistanEight Afghan police killed in insider attackTurkey condemns terror attacks in Afghan capital
Taliban kill over 50 security personnel in Afghanistan
"This meeting will determine the future talks and we would see if the U.S. is serious and sincere in negotiation," one of the officials involved said.
"We would hand over a list of prisoners languishing in jails across Afghanistan. If they set free our prisoners then we would meet again for another great cause."
If confirmed, the meeting would follow an earlier round of talks in Doha in July, where Taliban officials met Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia at the U.S. State Department.
U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and the top U.S. general arrived in Kabul on Friday to meet the new commander of NATO troops in the country and discuss progress on peace talks with the Taliban, despite a deteriorating security situation and turmoil within the Afghan government.Mattis arrived in Afghanistan accompanied by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine General Joseph Dunford. US, India seek to deepen defense ties and sign key accord
US Defence Secretary makes unannounced visit to Afghanistan
The Taliban delegation at the planned upcoming meeting would be led by the head of the group's Qatar-based political office, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanakzai, the officials said.
However they said the high command was planning to replace Stanakzai, who has been serving as interim head, with a new permanent head of the Qatar office.
"You may know Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanakzai was deputed in the Qatar office on acting charge basis. The top leadership is now planning to appoint someone else in his place," one said.
An Afghan policeman shot dead at least eight fellow officers, burned their bodies and took their weapons to join Taliban militants, provincial officials said on Thursday, adding to the toll from dozens of insider attacks in this year alone.The latest insider attack occurred in northeastern Takhar province, and came just days after a U.S. soldier was killed by an Afghan policeman in eastern Logar province, the second American to be killed in an insider attack this year."The incident happened early Thursday morning, after a local police opened fire on his colleagues sleeping in a checkpoint in Khwaja Ghar district," Takhar provincial police spokesman, Khalil Asir said. He said the bodies were later set on fire and burned.The perpetrator was apparently connected with the Taliban, Asir said, adding that he fled to the group taking weapons.Turkey condemns terror attacks in Afghan capitalInsider attacks by Afghan soldiers or police or by attackers wearing uniform have been a major problem in recent years. There are far more insider attacks on Afghan security forces than on Western forces.Between December and May, there were 47 so-called "green-on-green" attacks involving members of the Afghan security forces turning on their colleagues, with casualties from insider attacks up 50 percent, according to a Pentagon report in June.In a separate incident, 11 members of the security forces were killed after Taliban stormed several checkpoints in the western province of Badghis, late on Wednesday.The attacks happened in Ab Kamari district, provincial spokesman, Jamshid Shahabi said, adding that in a clash lasting several hours, 24 Taliban insurgents were killed or wounded.
Eight Afghan police killed in insider attack
Hopes that peace talks to end the 17-year conflict in Afghanistan have stuttered in recent months, following the failure to agree a repeat of the unprecedented Eid ceasefire in June which saw unarmed Taliban fighters mingling with security forces in Kabul and other cities.
Over the past year, the United States has stepped up air strikes against the Taliban and boosted training for Afghan forces. However U.S. officials say the goal is to reach a negotiated, Afghan-led settlement to end the war.
On the Taliban side, the assault on the strategic city of Ghazni last month that killed hundreds of soldiers, police and civilians underlined the insurgents' determination to increase pressure on the Western-backed government in Kabul.
Pakistan reassured the U.S. on Wednesday that it would use its influence to bring Taliban to the negotiating table in war-struck Afghanistan.“The U.S wants Pakistan to play its role for negotiations and reconciliation in Afghanistan. This is what our policy and desire is. We want peace and stability in Afghanistan, and I have fully assured them in this regard,” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said at a news conference after a meeting with U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in capital Islamabad.Pompeo arrived in the capital for a one-day visit, shortly after the U.S. announced a military aid cut of $300 million to Pakistan. On Thursday, he will set out to India.“America will lead peace talks with the Taliban,” Qureshi added, pointing to a thawing of ties between the two allies on the war on terror.Video: Pompeo meets with Pakistan foreign minister in IslamabadThe two sides agreed that the present conditions in Afghanistan were conducive to intensifying efforts for a political settlement, said a statement from the Foreign Ministry after the meeting. Pompeo conveyed the U.S desire to work with Pakistan in furthering the shared objectives of peace and stability in Afghanistan, the statement added.In a tweet after the meeting Pompeo said: "In #Pakistan with my colleague friend CJCS Gen Joe Dunford. Today we met with PM @ImranKhanPTI FM Shah Mehmood Qureshi to discuss our diplomatic military to military relationship. @StateDept."U.S. army chief Gen. Joseph Dunford also accompanied the U.S. secretary of state.The Pakistani foreign minister observed that a lingering diplomatic deadlock between Pakistan and the U.S had been broken by Pompeo’s visit.“There had been a long deadlock in relations between the two sides. But the situation has totally changed in this meeting,” he said.Responding to a question regarding the aid cut, Qureshi said: "We do not have a give and take relation with the U.S. We are a sovereign nation, and we do not want to talk about money but about principles."He added that Pompeo had extended him an invitation to visit Washington, which he accepted.Advisor to newly-elected Pakistani premier resignsOther visitsEarlier on Wednesday, Pompeo met newly-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan and army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa.Khan said that his government's agenda was focused on human development and poverty alleviation for which peace and stability in the region was a pre-requisite. He underscored his commitment to peace with all neighbors, according to a statement released from the prime minister house.Pompeo conveyed the desire of the U.S. administration to work with Pakistan to achieve the common objectives of peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region, the statement added.
Pakistan to help US bring Taliban to negotiating table
The Taliban have maintained their refusal to negotiate directly with the internationally recognised Afghan government, which they consider an illegitimate regime put in place by foreign powers and say they will only talk to the United States.
As the push for talks has picked up following the Eid ceasefire in June, the United States has agreed to participate directly and has appointed former U.S. ambassador to Kabul Zalmay Khalilzad as special envoy to reinforce the effort.
Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the militant Haqqani network, one of the most powerful and feared groups in the Afghan insurgency, has died after a long illness, the Taliban said on Tuesday.Haqqani, who founded the network in the 1970s, gave up operational leadership of the group some years ago to his son Sirajuddin, who is now deputy leader of the Afghan Taliban, with a $5-million U.S. bounty on his head.Defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish said the death was not expected to mean any major change for the Haqqani network, blamed by Afghan and U.S. security officials for some of the most devastating suicide attacks of the past decade."Operationally, his death will not have an impact on the group," he said, adding that Haqqani's role in recent years was ideological rather than practical.Haqqani achieved prominence as a guerrilla leader in the U.S.-backed campaign against Soviet forces occupying Afghanistan during the 1980s but later allied himself with the Taliban, fighting American troops after the Taliban were ousted in 2001.With hopes for peace talks raised by last June's unprecedented ceasefire, news of the death of one of the most notorious militant commanders comes at a sensitive time for both the Taliban and Kabul's Western-backed government.Jalaluddin Haqqani's death has been reported a number of times over recent years, although never confirmed, but he is not believed to have held any operational role for some time."Haqqani had become quite old and was suffering from different health problems and had handed over the network to his eldest son, Sirajuddin Haqqani, and his other sons," said one Taliban source close to the Haqqani family.Haqqani had been ill and bed-ridden for several years but remained an inspiration for the Taliban, the movement said."If Haqqani Sahib has departed (from) us physically, his ideology and methodology continue to endure," it said in a statement.
Taliban says founder of militant Afghan Haqqani network dies