People throughout the nation were holding their breath, caught in a limbo between fear and hope, as new violence erupted in a country long torn by civil war. Both U.S. and Afghan officials suggested that the Taliban were violating the pact despite an unprecedented telephone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Taliban political leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar on Tuesday, after which Trump said the two had agreed there would be “no violence.”
In a series of tweets, Col. Sonny Leggett, the spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said the Taliban had conducted 43 attacks against Afghan national forces on Tuesday alone. In response, he said. “The US conducted an airstrike on March 4 against Taliban fighters in Nahr-e Saraj, Helmand, who were actively attacking an #ANDSF [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces] checkpoint.
This was a defensive strike to disrupt the attack. This was our 1st strike against the Taliban in 11 days.”
Meanwhile Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, his own future in dispute not only because of the Taliban, who want an interim government established, but because of a challenge from his election rival, Abdullah Abdullah, has cast doubt on the deal.
The pact, which was signed by Baradar and U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad on Feb. 29, stated that the United States would “work with all relevant sides on a plan to expeditiously release” Taliban prisoners, with the release date determined ahead of March 10, the planned beginning of direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government. But Ghani said there was “no commitment” to freeing the prisoners.
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