Intra-Afghan peace talks will be damaged

Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asia Department Zamir Kabulov told TASS that President Ghani’s order to launch an offensive against the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) and the suspension of the release of Taliban prisoners will halt the process of launching intra-Afghan negotiations

“This is regrettable, because by his actions the head of the Kabul administration actually stalls the process of moving towards the launch of intra-Afghan negotiations,” he said, adding that “Such actions clearly indicate that Kabul is not much interested in the early launch of intra-Afghan talks,” the diplomat added.

Kabulov stressed that the Taliban’s combat activities against government forces did not violate the agreements reached by the Taliban and the US in Doha.

President Ghani on Tuesday ordered the Afghan forces to go offensive against the Taliban militants while reacting to the recent deadly attacks which killed dozens of people.

In a televised speech, Ghani said the Taliban militants have increased their attacks despite the repeated calls by the Afghan people, the Afghan government and international community to reduce violence and declare a ceasefire.

Ghani further added that Kabul and Nangarhar once again witnessed attacks by Taliban and ISIS, which killed or wounded many civilians, children and security personnel.