KABUL: The Taliban targeted a police checkpoint in Afghanistan’s central province of Day Kundi on Friday, killing at least 10 policemen, provincial officials said as the US envoy for talks with the insurgents pressed ahead with meetings with key players in the conflict.

The governor of Day Kundi, Anwar Rahmati, said that along with the 10 killed, 15 policemen were also wounded in the attack, which took place in the district of Patu. The insurgents also suffered casualties, he said.

However, provincial councilman Ghayrat Jawaheri gave a higher death toll, saying 13 policemen were killed in the attack. The different tolls could not immediately be reconciled.

Also on Friday, a second Taliban attack in Day Kundi, this one in Kijran district, left one police officer dead and another wounded, Rahmati said. The district has been “under the attack of the Taliban since at least one month” he added.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yusouf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the Patu attack but didn’t immediately comment on the Kijran assault.

The Taliban now effectively control half the country and stage near-daily attacks, mainly targeting Afghan security forces and government officials or those they see as siding with the government. Many civilians caught in the crossfire are also killed.

A proposed peace deal would see the United States withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan in exchange for promises from the Taliban that it would renounce Al Qaeda, US media reported on Thursday.

The US and the Taliban are soon expected to begin their eighth round of talks in Doha to reach a deal that would end America’s nearly 18-year involvement in Afghanistan.

The Washington Post reported that an initial deal to end the war would see US troop numbers in the country fall to as low as 8,000 from their current level of around 14,000.

In exchange, the Taliban would abide by a ceasefire and renounce Al Qaeda, whose 9/11 attacks on the US spurred the invasion that ousted the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in 2001, the Post reported, citing US officials.

“I would say that they are 80 or 90 percent of the way there,” one official told the paper. “But there is still a long way to go on that last 10 or 20 percent.” The proposed agreement would also require the Taliban to broker a separate peace deal with the Afghan government, with which it has refused to speak, Fox News reported.

However, an Afghan official last week hinted that the government of President Ashraf Ghani was preparing for direct talks with the Taliban, the details of which have yet to be announced.

Without confirming the reports, US Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted a link to the Post article and later wrote: “I hope any agreement will be a good deal for America that protects our homeland, our allies, and our interests.” Washington has said it wants to see a deal inked by September 1, but any deal requires the Taliban to talk to Kabul.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2019