Intensified Taliban Attacks Aimed At Gaining Upper Hand In Peace Talks - Defense Ministry

KABUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2019) Intensified attacks by the Taliban movement in Afghanistan are aimed at getting into a stronger position in peace talks to end the country's 18-year war, Fawad Aman, the spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, told Sputnik on Sunday.

The statement comes after Saturday's attack by the Taliban on a hotel in Afghanistan's northwestern Badghis province, which left four people killed, and a car bomb attack in the central city of Ghazni last week, which killed more than 10 people and left over 150 others injured.

"Heavy fighting is ongoing in north, west and east of Afghanistan, dozens of Taliban fighters are being killed on daily basis. The Taliban are trying to have upper hand in peace talks," Aman said.

Earlier in the day, the Afghan government started relocating government offices from central Kabul to the outskirts of the city to lower civilian casualties as security incidents in the Afghan capital often take place near the government offices.

The government has also abandoned several security outposts. While the Taliban sees it as its victory, the Defense Ministry has described it as a tactical move.

"Based on the new tactic, we abandon outposts and instead build large bases which will be hard for Taliban to seize," the ministry said in a statement.

Last week, the Taliban concluded the seventh round of talks with the United States. The negotiations were followed by a separate inter-Afghan meeting, brokered by Germany and Qatar. Kabir Haqmal, the spokesman for the Afghan national security adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, said in a video message that Kabul hoped another round of intra-Afghan talks would be held soon.

A source told Sputnik that the meeting was expected to be held in the upcoming two or three weeks, probably in Indonesia.