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The Taliban warn the government that they will respond if Afghan forces attack them.
President Ashraf Ghani in Afghanistan took responsibility for Tuesday’s two bloody attacks on IS and the Taliban and ordered Afghan forces to return to an offensive position and “resume their efforts against the enemy.”
At least 24 people, including at least two babies, mothers and health professionals, were killed by gunmen who attacked a hospital in the capital Kabul, where, among other things, there is a birth clinic. At least 16 people were injured in the act, which was carried out with automatic weapons and hand grenades on Tuesday.
On the same day, 32 people were killed during a funeral in Nangarhar province in a suicide attack. More than 130 people were injured in the bombing.
IS has assumed the fact towards the funeral. No group has taken on the mass murder at the hospital, but the Taliban refuse to have been behind any of the incidents. At the same time, the fundamentalist movement warns the government that they are “fully prepared” to confront government forces should they attack them.
“From now on, the responsibility for a further escalation of violence and its consequences will rest solely on the shoulders of the Kabul government,” the Taliban wrote in a statement.
The government dismissed the Taliban’s warning, saying the movement has always been involved in “violence and war.”
The Taliban simply cannot deny their involvement in the violence, including the latest, presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi says at a press conference on Wednesday.
The noises between the parties threaten the already fragile peace process in Afghanistan.
Ashraf Ghani had previously promised that the forces would only act in defense of Taliban attacks to interfere on the road to future peace talks. This was after the agreement between the United States and the Taliban that raised hopes of unarmed weapons in the war-torn country.
Since the agreement was reached, Since the Taliban promised that Afghanistan should not be a haven for terrorists in exchange for the United States withdrawing its troops from the country, the Taliban have not, in principle, carried out any major attacks in Kabul or other cities. However, they have attacked Afghan government forces in several provinces.
The United States calls on the Afghan government and the Taliban to ensure that the peace process stops.
“The Taliban and the Afghan government should work together to bring those responsible to justice,” Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
