KABUL: The United States launched an airstrike against Taliban fighters to defend Afghan forces on Wednesday, an American military spokesman said, as violence spirals after a string of deadly attacks by the insurgents, throwing the country’s nascent peace process into grave doubt.

News of the airstrike in southern Helmand province — the first in 11 days — came hours after US President Donald Trump told reporters he had had a “very good” chat with the Taliban political chief, who on Saturday signed a historic deal with Washington to withdraw foreign forces.

Since the signing in Doha of the agreement, however, the militants have ramped up violence against Afghan forces, ending a partial truce and casting a pall over peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban, due to begin on March 10.

US Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Sonny Leggett tweeted that the airstrike targeted Taliban fighters who were “actively attacking” an Afghan forces checkpoint in Helmand.

“This was a defensive strike to disrupt the attack,” he tweeted. “We call on the Taliban to stop needless attacks and uphold their commitments. As we have demonstrated, we will defend our partners when required.”

Renewed violence casts doubt on success of nascent peace process in Afghanistan

He said the insurgents had carried out 43 attacks on checkpoints in Helmand on Tuesday alone.

Provincial police spokesman Mohammad Zaman Hamdard told AFP: “In the past two days we have witnessed the most intense Taliban attacks in Helmand. They have attacked several districts and many military bases.”

Elsewhere the insurgents killed at least 20 Afghan soldiers and policemen in a series of overnight attacks in other provinces, government officials said on Wednesday.

“Taliban fighters attacked at least three army outposts in Imam Sahib district of Kunduz last night, killing at least 10 soldiers and four police,” said Safiullah Amiri, a member of the provincial council.

A defence ministry official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the army toll, while the provincial police spokesman Hejratullah Akbari confirmed the police fatalities.

The insurgents also attacked police in central Uruzgan province on Tuesday night, with the governor’s spokesman Zergai Ebadi saying: “Unfortunately, six police were killed and seven wounded.”

The Taliban has declined to confirm or deny responsibility for any of the attacks.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said in a Tweet that “according to the plan (the Taliban) is implementing all parts of the agreement one after another in order to keep the fighting reduced”.

A Taliban senior commander in Helmand who declined to be named said that a drone had targeted their position. “As far as I know we didn’t suffer any human losses but we are working on it and sent our team to the area,” he told Reuters, adding that the group’s senior leadership in Afghanistan had called an emergency meeting to discuss what he described as a “major violation” of the agreement.

News of the attacks emerged after President Trump told reporters in Washington on Tuesday that he had a “very good” relationship with Taliban negotiator Mullah Baradar, with the pair speaking on the phone for 35 minutes, according to the insurgents.

“The relationship is very good that I have with the mullah. We had a good long conversation today and you know, they want to cease the violence, they’d like to cease violence also,” he said.

But on Wednesday, US military spokesman Leggett warned that the “#Afghans & US have complied w/our agreements; however, Talibs appear intent on squandering this (opportunity) and ignoring the will of the people for #peace”.

‘Common interest’

Under the terms of the deal, the US and other foreign forces will quit Afghanistan within 14 months, subject to Taliban security guarantees and a pledge by the insurgents to hold talks with Kabul.

The agreement also includes a commitment to exchange 5,000 Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government in return for 1,000 captives — something the militants have cited as a prerequisite for talks but which President Ashraf Ghani has refused to do before negotiations start.

Mr Trump has said the Taliban and Washington both “have a very common interest” in ending the war.

But Kabul-based political analyst Atta Noori said the Americans had apparently “failed so far to convince the Taliban — who are thinking as victors — to come to the negotiating table with the Afghan government”.

“All the parties (will) show their teeth, but in the end they have to sit and talk,” he added.

The Taliban had in the last 24 hours conducted 30 attacks in 15 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi tweeted.

The insurgents, who have been known to exaggerate figures, claimed on their website to have killed 35 security forces since Tuesday night.

The Afghan government had last week sent a delegation to Qatar to open “initial contacts” with the insurgents, but Taliban spokesman Shaheen on Tuesday said the militants would not meet Kabul’s representatives except to discuss the release of their captives.

Apparent differences between the Doha agreement and a separate joint US-Afghan declaration made in Afghanistan underline the obstacles facing negotiators.

The US-Taliban deal committed to the release of prisoners, while the Kabul document only required both sides to determine “the feasibility of releasing” captives.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2020