Afghanistan: Taliban announce new battles against US military

The Taliban have announced they will continue their fight against US forces in Afghanistan. The US would soon regret its decision to break peace talks, Taliban spokesman Sabihullah Mujahid told AFP.

"We had two options to end the occupation in Afghanistan, one was jihad and fighting, the other was talks and negotiations," the spokesman is quoted as saying. If US President Donald Trump wants to end the talks, "we will choose the first option, and they will soon regret it," added Mujahid.

Trump had declared the talks with the Taliban "dead" on Monday. Previously, he had broken off negotiations on the weekend just before the possible signing of a peace agreement for Afghanistan. According to his information for Sunday planned secret meeting with Taliban representatives in the US said the US President. He cited as a reason a Taliban attack in Kabul earlier this week in which at least 16 people were killed, including a US soldier.

District in the north falls to Taliban

The Taliban and Afghan soldiers fought again in northern Afghanistan. In Tachar province, the district of Jangi Kalah fell to the radical Islamists after two days of fighting, two provincial councilors said.

The majority of the district had been previously controlled by the Islamists, said the provincial council Wafiullah Rahmani. The government forces should have withdrawn from the district center, after no reinforcement had come despite a commitment from Kabul. The Taliban would now have taken over the bazaar, the police headquarters and the district administration building. It is unclear how many victims there have been in the fighting.

Only at the weekend, the Taliban were able to conquer the district Dasht-e Artschi in northern Kunduz. At the same time, government forces made progress in northeastern Badakhshan in Wardutsch district, which was held by the Taliban for more than four years. Government forces also raided the Jamgan district.