Khan Agha has endured years of violence in Kunduz, but it surely was the Taliban’s assault on the strategic metropolis in northeastern Afghanistan, as the federal government and insurgents have been making ready for historic peace talks, that unnerved him.
“Like me, nearly all of Kunduz residents reside in concern,” Agha, a 46-year-old driver, informed Reuters. “ what’s happening, something may occur at any time.”
The Taliban offensive, encircling and virtually seizing Kunduz late final month, got here simply weeks earlier than the Kabul authorities sat down with their sworn enemies in Doha on Saturday to start out historic talks aimed toward ending 19 years of conflict that has killed and wounded greater than 100,000 civilians.
The opening ceremony for the talks within the Qatari capital, replete with requires peace from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a grand resort and a bunch of dignitaries on video hyperlink urging a ceasefire, contrasted sharply with the current violence on the bottom in Kunduz.
Simply hours after these talks began, Taliban and Afghan authorities forces clashed throughout Afghanistan, officers stated, underscoring the uphill problem of ending the lengthy conflict. Probably the most intense of these clashes on Saturday have been in Kunduz, the place Taliban once more jostled with safety forces for management of key highways, and the Afghan army deployed air and artillery strikes.
Agha, stranded outdoors the town of 270,000 for 4 days throughout final month’s bigger assault and unable to succeed in his household on his means again from a supply, has since stockpiled three months’ price of meals in his small house.
A Reuters examination of the little-reported August offensive — the worst since 2015, when Kunduz briefly fell to the Taliban — reveals how the insurgents have not too long ago raised stress on this strategic city centre, a gateway within the north to mineral-rich provinces and to central Asia, and a hub for transportation and drug-smuggling.
The Taliban deny the Kunduz assault, saying their fighters solely attacked bases in retaliation for troops firing on close by areas.
“From the beginning of the 12 months we by no means had plans of enormous assaults on any massive metropolis for one motive, and that’s the peace course of,” stated Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. “Attacking massive cities can injury this course of.”
Although it finally failed, the brazen try to take a strategic city centre and the persevering with stress reveals the Taliban are pursuing a fight-and-talk technique, largely ignoring the worldwide pleas to mood the violence and agree on a ceasefire.
“The size of ambition to increase territorial management has not ebbed,” stated a senior Western diplomat. “They need their fighters to remain lively on the bottom — it’s a key concern forward of talks as major belief and confidence-building is determined by a discount in violence.”
The Taliban’s muscular motion comes simply as the US quickly attracts down its troops in Afghanistan, in keeping with President Donald Trump’s guarantees to finish America’s longest conflict. A February pact between Washington and the Taliban set Might 2021 because the date for the ultimate pullout, topic to sure safety ensures.
U.S. troop numbers are anticipated to fall to 4,500 by November from over 100,000 in 2011.
Battleground to negotiating desk
“A severe Taliban assault on Kunduz Metropolis breaks with the U.S.-Taliban settlement, a minimum of in spirit, and sends an ominous sign forward of intra-Afghan negotiations,” stated Elizabeth Threlkeld, deputy director of the South Asia program on the Washington-based Stimson Middle.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul didn’t remark.
The Taliban, after step by step tightening their grip on rural areas encircling Kunduz, carried out its offensive from Aug. 20 to 26, seizing a number of checkpoints and two bases on arterial roads into the town, spreading concern that the militants would seize management, three provincial council members stated.
“They acquired sufficient near the town that their small arms may simply attain the police headquarters and governor’s compound,” stated council member Assadullah Saadat.
Preventing displaced greater than 60,000 individuals, in accordance the UN Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Now that the federal government and Taliban are sitting down for peace talks, after months of delays, officers say a high precedence is negotiating a complete ceasefire, which the Afghan authorities has requested a number of occasions however the Taliban has rejected.
“Their army capability represents a menace to the Afghan authorities, and they’re prone to proceed launching assaults over the approaching months as negotiations kick off,” Threlkeld stated.
Afghan forces pushed Taliban fighters again with a number of airstrikes, stated defence ministry spokesman Fawad Aman. On one of many heaviest days of combating, 34 Taliban members have been killed and 24 wounded, he stated.
Greater than 100 Taliban members have been killed 100 have been wounded, stated a neighborhood council member.
Although the speedy menace to the town was over, native safety pressure members informed Reuters the world remained beneath stress.
Abdul, who requested that his full identify not be used, stated that in his seven years within the Afghan safety forces in a number of the hardest areas, he had not encountered the stress he present in Kunduz the place his unit was beneath fixed hearth and their automobiles couldn’t be left within the open for even a couple of hours with out attracting rockets.
“There’s a frequent principle right here: the extra acquire on the battleground, the larger the share on the negotiating desk,” he stated. “I’ve skilled the worst time of my complete life right here.”
