Kabul: The US military defended an air strike by Taliban militants on Sunday because the insurgents accused Washington of violating signed agreements.
The Taliban launched a large-scale offensive in the southern province of Helmand to seize the capital, prompting the United States to launch air strikes to support the dominating Afghan security forces.
“American forces have violated the Doha agreement in various forms by carrying out excessive air strikes following the new developments in Helmand,” Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Yousuf Ahmadi said in a statement.
The “U.S.-Taliban Agreement” signed in Doha stipulates that foreign forces leave Afghanistan in exchange for security guarantees, and the insurgents pledge to sit down with the Afghan government and seek a peaceful settlement of decades of war.
U.S. military spokesman Colonel Sonny Leggett denied that the strike violated the agreement.
“American forces have violated the Doha agreement in various forms by carrying out excessive air strikes following the new developments in Helmand,” Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Yousuf Ahmadi said in a statement.
U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who met the Taliban last week in Doha, the capital of Qatar, to agree to a ‘reset’ of their commitments, said violence was still too high.
“Unfounded charges of violations and inflammatory rhetoric do not advance peace,” he said on Twitter on Monday, urging strict adherence to the troop withdrawal deal and a gradual easing of violence.
The main fighting in Helmand province last week eased, but violence in other places continues.
Since Saturday, the Taliban have clashed with security forces in several areas northeast of Badakhshan, including the capital of its capital, Faizabad, killing at least four people.
Negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government’s negotiators began in Doha last month, but progress has been slow and violence has escalated. Diplomats and officials say this factor has weakened the trust needed to succeed in the negotiations.
