30 Taliban attacks per day on Afghan security forces after Eid-ul-Fitr ceasefire

The Taliban has carried out an average of 30 attacks on the Afghan security forces each day after the Eid-ul-Fitr ceasefire, sources within the Afghan government said. The sources said on Thursday that the Afghan forces also suffered casualties as a result of these attacks, reports TOLO News. Violence has sky-rocketed following the US-Taliban agreement signed in late February in Doha, but in an unexpected move, the Taliban on May 22 had announced the three-day ceasefire. In response, President Ashraf Ghani on the following day pledged to release 2,000 more Taliban prisoners and to focus on furthering peace efforts.
The Afghan government has been pressing the Taliban to abandon further violence to help pave the way for intra-Afghan talks. The Afghan government so far has not provided any details about the exact numbers of casualties among Afghan forces after the ceasefire. "A significant reduction of violence or a ceasefire will help us to proceed with the next steps, which include the start of direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban," TOLO News quoted Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman to Ghani, as saying on Thursday. (IANS)