Afghanistan ceasefire ends with Taliban | among calls for new interviews News

Clashes between Taliban fighters and government forces have resumed in Helmand province.

There were violent attacks The Afghan government had a three-day ceasefire with violent attacks on the Taliban – some claimed by the ISIL (ISIS) armed group – amid calls for renewed peace talks that ended on Sunday.

Fighting broke out on Sunday in Lashkar Gah, the capital of the peaceful southern province of Helmand, by a military spokesman in Afghanistan and a local official.

“The fighting began this morning and is still ongoing,” Attaullah, the head of Afghanistan’s Helmand provincial government, told AFP.

He said Taliban fighters attacked security controls outside Lashkar Gah and other districts.

A spokesman for the Afghan army in the south confirmed that fighting had resumed.

The Taliban, which had been carrying out an armed uprising since being ousted from power in a US-led military invasion in 2001, blamed the resurgence of the fighting on the Western-backed Kabul administration.

“They (Afghan forces) started the operation … they don’t blame us,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP.

The armed group has continued to attack Afghan forces even after signing a peace agreement with the US in February 2020. Kabul is known as the “puppet regime” of the West.

Short talks

A day earlier, government negotiating groups and the armed group met briefly in Qatar, Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said.

They renewed their commitment to a peaceful end to the war on Saturday and called for early talks to be halted, he said.

Kabul and the Taliban have been holding talks in the Qatari capital Doha since last September as part of the U.S. push for a lasting peace in the war-torn country.

The U.S. is pushing for quick talks between Afghan actors as the latter withdraws from 2,500-3,500 troops and NATO withdraws the remaining 7,000 allied forces.

When the Taliban and the government declared a ceasefire in Eid-al-Fitr when they signed a ceasefire, violence continued in Afghanistan.

A bombing of a mosque in the capital’s northern mosque on Friday killed 12 worshipers, including a prayer leader. Another 15 people were injured.

The Taliban denied that it was behind the ISIL attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which controls armed groups. Al Jazeera has not been able to independently verify the ISIL claims alleged by SITE.

In the dark

ISIL also blew up several power stations over the weekend. This left the capital Kabul in the dark during the three-day holiday following the Muslim fast of Ramadan.

In messages on its affiliated websites, ISIL carried out more attacks in the past two weeks destroying 13 power stations in several provinces. The stations bring imported power from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to Central Asian countries.

The attacks have left nine provinces, including Kabul, with a steady supply of energy, government spokesman Sanger Niazai said.

There was also concern that local armed leaders were demanding money from the government to protect stations in controlled areas because they could be behind some of the destruction.

At least one local armed leader was arrested last year after asking for protection money.

The seemingly unstoppable violence in Afghanistan is feared that the final withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops could lead to more chaos in neighboring countries and regions.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced last month that U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan by September 11 at the latest.

On Saturday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi appeared concerned about calling on Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to withdraw US and NATO forces quickly.

Wang called for a hasty withdrawal and warned that it would “seriously” affect the peace process in Afghanistan and negatively affect the stability of the region. He called on the United Nations to play a greater role.