Afghan government forces and Taliban insurgents
waged war against each other in the past 24 hours despite U.S. officials saying
there had been a breakthrough in recent days in peace talks to end the
18-year-old conflict.
While negotiators from the warring sides pressed on
with meetings in Doha, Qatar, the Taliban and the Afghan government both
reported fighting on the ground.
The Afghan defense ministry said an air strike had
killed a senior Taliban commander in northern Balkh province on Thursday
evening.
“As result of a targeted air strike by Afghan air
forces, Mawlavi Sardar Mohammad, a key member of the Taliban military
commission was killed along with eight others,” the ministry said in a
statement.
The Taliban did not confirm the air strike.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the
insurgents had killed six Afghan soldiers, including two officers, in an attack
on a checkpoint in northern Kunduz province.
Afghan, Taliban and U.S. sources said a peace deal
could be signed this month, allowing a withdrawal of some of 13,000 U.S. troops
and thousands of other NATO personnel that remain in Afghanistan following the
U.S. intervention to oust the Taliban in 2001.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday there
was a “good chance” of reaching an agreement with the Taliban on a reduction of
U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said an
important breakthrough had been made in peace talks with the Taliban in recent
days, and Defence Secretary Mark Esper said they had negotiated a proposal for
a week-long reduction in violence.
Details about when that was set to begin were not
immediately clear but a Taliban official said it would be this week.
Attacks in Afghanistan jumped to record levels in
the last quarter of 2019 compared with previous years.