Taliban kill 21 days before US-sponsored peace talks

KABUL: Taliban insurgents killed 21 people in a series of attacks unleashed on security forces guarding oil wells in Afghanistan’s northern Sari Pul province, officials said on Tuesday. Twenty-three soldiers were also wounded in the attack.
The attacks coincide with regional and US-sponsored efforts to hold talks with the Taliban on finding ways to end the 17-year war, which began with the ouster of the Taliban government in a US-led offensive.
Armed with rocket propelled rockets and hand grenades, scores of Taliban fighters began the attacks late on Monday in three areas of Sari-Pul, which lasted until Tuesday sunrise.
“They meant to target the security forces,” Zabihullah Amani, a spokesman for the region’s governor, told Arab News.
Three of the victims were senior police officers.
Amani said government had not sent reinforcements to quell the Taliban threat, adding that the areas and wells were under government control.
An Afghan and a Chinese firm were extracting oil from the wells until six months ago, when the government scrapped the contract for unknown reasons.
Amani said Taliban insurgents were only a few kilometers away from the armored vehicles and equipment that belong to the firms and government.
Recent meetings held between Taliban and US officials and regional representatives have not deterred the group from stepping up their attacks in Afghanistan in recent months, causing heavy casualties among security forces.
A rising number of Taliban attacks prompted the government to replace the country’s defense and interior ministers last week.
Meanwhile, Taliban officials confirmed on Tuesday that delegates held discussions with officials from the Iranian government about the peace process and US presence in Afghanistan.
Both the Taliban and Iran, arch rivals in the past, have established ties in recent years.
Sunday’s meeting is the first officially confirmed moot between the two sides to deliberate on the US efforts to end the 17-year Afghan war, rightly termed as Washington’s longest conflict in history.
The Taliban in a statement said the group’s delegation shared its views on “peace and security of Afghanistan and the region with neighboring Iran.”
The statement said the visit to Iran was part of Taliban’s regional effort to gain political and moral support as well as cooperation for ending the “occupation and for restoration of peace and security.”
Last week, a top Iranian security delegation held talks with Afghan government in Kabul. Media reports at the time quoted leader of the Iranian team as saying that Tehran had established contacts with the Taliban with the knowledge of the Afghan government.
Like Russia and Pakistan, Tehran has openly and repeatedly demanded the withdrawal of US-led forces from Afghanistan, stressing their presence had led to fanning of extremism and insecurity in the region.
Some Afghan officials and members of US government have accused Tehran of arming and funding the Taliban against Kabul and foreign troops, a charge denied by Iran.
Iran’s foreign ministry was the first to reveal Sunday’s meeting with Taliban delegation.
Various countries in the region have held talks with the Taliban in recent months. However, Afghan government members have not been able to take part in those meetings due to the objections of Taliban officials.
The Taliban considers Kabul a US puppet and insists on holding direct talks with Washington because it was the US that overthrew the Taliban regime in 2001.
US officials and Taliban reps have held a series of meetings in Abu Dhabi and Qatar in recent weeks, mulling over the fate of Afghan war, with President Donald Trump eyeing to possibly cut down its military presence significantly which will eventually lead to total withdrawal.
The next round of this series of multilateral meetings is expected to be held in mid January in Saudi Arabia.

Taliban kill 21 days before US-sponsored peace talks