Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has defended his aggressive military strategy against insurgents, saying that his administration will never oppose efforts for peace and reconciliation but the armed forces had the right to defend the nation against threats.
While referring to the recent spate of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, Ghani on Friday asked the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANDS) to give the “final response” to the perpetrators of the recent attacks so that they agree on a justified and equal peace, reports TOLO News reported.
Addressing to the members of the Afghan commandos, Ghani said, “Today, once again, there is a need for you (ANDSF) to demonstrate your hidden power and bring out your swords from the sheath”.
“Today it is the time that the enemies of Afghanistan see the power of the special operation forces and commandos of Afghanistan,” warned the Afghan president.
General Bismillah Waziri, the Afghan Chief of Army Staff, hailed Ghani’s decision to put the ANDSF on offense mode, and for vowing to crush any insurgent response.
Earlier this week, at least dozens were killed and many injured in an explosion that took place near a hospital in Kabul.
24 people were dead and dozens more wounded in a suicide blast claimed by ISIL (ISIS) at a funeral in eastern Afghanistan, according to the local government, in one of two attacks to hit the country on Tuesday.
No group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack.
On Thursday, US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad said that the Islamic State (IS) terror group had conducted two deadly attacks in Afghanistan on Tuesday which killed more than 50 civilians.
Khalilzad took to Twitter, saying “The terrorist group opposes a peace agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban”.
This was the third consecutive day of blast rocking the Afghan capital.
However, after the attacks, Ghani ordered national security forces to “end active defence position” and resume offensives on militant groups, including the Taliban.
The Taliban have carried out a deadly attack on Thursday an Afghan army base after the government ordered forces to resume strikes against the militants.
The US-Taliban deal signed in Qatar on February 29 calls for the release of up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners to open the way for intra-Afghan negotiations.
The agreement faces challenges as the intra-Afghan dialogue that had been scheduled to begin on March 10 could not start due to differences over the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners.