Afghan security chief warns Taliban may fight under another name after peace deal
Dec 29, 2020
Kabul [Afghanistan], December 29 (ANI/Sputnik): The director-general of the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS), Ahmad Zia Saraj warned on Tuesday that the Taliban movement was likely to continue its fight against the Kabul government using a new name even if the country achieves a peace agreement.
"If the peace process succeeds, there is a possibility that the belligerent Taliban will form another group under a new name. Our intelligence indicates that the anti-peace Taliban will continue to fight under another name," Saraj told the upper house.
The NDS chief also identified the Taliban as responsible for the recent targeted killings.
"The latest targeted killings and the magnetic mines that kill people every day are the work of a Taliban group called the Obaidah Caravan, which was set up in [the province of] Logar after a peace deal with the United States," Saraj said.
Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi told the upper house that the Taliban commit targeted killings to have an edge in the ongoing peace negotiations.
"The Taliban have conceded defeat in face-to-face fighting and have resorted to targeted killings aimed at gaining a foothold in the peace talks," Andarabi said. The Afghan government has been squaring off against Taliban terrorists despite the intra-Afghan talks in Qatar's capital of Doha. (ANI/Sputnik)
