Afghanistan and Taliban commence peace talks, while violence flares

Even as the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan come to the table during peace negotiations this weekend in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, violence flared between the two entities.

The talks come in the wake of a February agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban, and commenced this weekend. On Saturday, while the talks began, violence flared.

“With the start of intra-Afghan talks we were expecting the Taliban to reduce the number of their attacks, but unfortunately their attacks are still going in high numbers,” Fawad Aman, an Afghan defense ministry spokesperson, said according to Reuters.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid reportedly said via a statement that the organization attacked Afghan forces that showed up to initiate an operation along a highway in Kunduz. 

The U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, is in Doha to attend the talks. He met on Saturday with representatives from the Taliban and the Kabul government.