KABUL, Aug 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) – At least 44 fighters, with the majority of them Taliban militants, have been killed in the country, over the past 24 hours, since the conclusion of the three-day traditional grand assembly that approved the release of 400 hardcore Taliban inmates, officials said.
In the latest waves of violence, six pro-government militiamen and three Taliban insurgents were killed and seven others, including two militants, injured, as a clash erupted in Pachiragam district, yesterday, provincial government spokesman, Attaullah Khogiani, said.
At least 23 insurgents were killed in Muqar district, of eastern Ghazni and neighbouring provinces over the past 24 hours, according to officials.
A dozen more Taliban militants have reportedly been killed in their own bomb blasts in Kunduz, Takhar and Logar provinces since Monday.
The exchange of 5,000 Taliban prisoners with 1,000 Afghan troops is part of the U.S.-Taliban peace deal, inked late Feb, in Doha, to facilitate the intra-Afghan dialogue, which is expected to pave the way for foreign forces to pull out from Afghanistan, ending the war in the country.
After the grand assembly’s approval on Sunday, Afghan President, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, signed the order for the release of the last batch of Taliban inmates, to remove the last obstacle for the initiation of peace talks.
However, an Afghan political analyst, Khan Mohammad Daneshjo, slammed the hardcore prisoners, saying, the Taliban outfit has achieved its goal by getting back their fighters, but Afghans have yet to embrace peace, as the “Taliban group is a warmongering” armed outfit.
“If Taliban wants peace it should observe ceasefire, to pave the way for intra-Afghan talks,” a retired army brigadier, Noorul Haq, said.– NNN-AGENCIES
