Deadly Assault Kills at Least 28 Afghan Police Amid Historic Peace Talks With Taliban Insurgent Group

The Taliban insurgent group conducted several attacks in Afghanistan while the historic peace talks in Doha were underway. The recent surge of violence has undermined the first-ever direct talks between the government and the insurgent group.

The group launched attacks on several security checkpoints in southern Afghanistan in one night, resulting in the death of 28 Afghan police offers, said officials.

Deadly attacks amid peace talks

According to Aljazeera, a spokesman for the Uruzgan governor, Zelgai Ebadi, said Taliban forces gave 28 police officials, both local and national, a chance to live and go home if they surrendered. However, after taking their guns, the insurgent group proceeded to kill every single personnel.

A spokesman for the Taliban group, Qari Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi, claimed responsibility for the assaults and said the insurgent group killed the police officers because they did not surrender.

A local official speaking anonymously said that the death toll was recorded at 28 police personnel but added that three officers managed to escape with their lives.

Ebadi said that despite reinforcements not being able to make it to the attacks' location, Afghan security forces quickly regained control of the security checkpoints shortly after.

The recent attack comes after Sunday's assault, where at least 14 Afghan police officers and soldiers were killed in one night.

Also Read: Afghan Government and Taliban Face-to-Face For Historic Peace Talks After Decades of Conflict

In response to the vicious attacks, Afghan government forces continue to hunt down aggressive Taliban members. News reports wrote that on Saturday, airstrikes targeting the insurgent group accidentally killed about 24 civilians in Kunduz. The Ministry of Defense of the country said it was investigating the claims that civilians died due to the bombings.

Experts say that the continuous violence and attacks show how both sides are unwilling to step down without concessions from the other party, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Difficult negotiations

Friction in the initial stages of peace talks is common, especially in sensitive regions and processes. In Syria, peace talks have been stalled for several years as the Yemeni peace process is still stuck in the initial stage.

The peace talks between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) took nearly four years before becoming successful.

The recent attacks also pressure the negotiating teams in Doha to agree on concessions, starting on two divisive issues.

The Taliban insurgent group is demanding that its peace talks with the Afghan government be based on the group's deal with the United States in February. The statement suggests that if the U.S. does not uphold its promise, the Taliban is not committed to continuing the Afghan government's peace talks.

Kabul is demanding that the insurgent group follow similar rules to the Afghan-U.S. declaration, where the two countries committed themselves to work on negotiations and implementing a permanent cease-fire.

The agreement between the United States and the Taliban has the American government withdrawing its military forces in the region over 14 months. The move is part of President Donald Trump's attempt to reduce the military footprint in Afghanistan before the November election.

In exchange, the Taliban would work on preventing al Qaeda and other terrorist groups from conducting deadly assaults within the country and entering peace negotiations with the Afghan government.