Taliban peace deal on thin ice

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Afghan security personnel at the site of a bomb explosion in Kabul on Feb. 26 Associated Press/Photo by Rahmat Gul

The United States carried out a defensive strike against Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, less than a week after signing a peace agreement with the insurgent group. The strike answered a Taliban assault on Afghan government forces that killed at least 11 soldiers and four civilians, U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said.

How will this affect the peace process? On Saturday, the Taliban agreed to reduce attacks until a meeting scheduled for Tuesday to negotiate a permanent cease-fire with the Afghan government. But Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday said he would not free 5,000 Taliban prisoners, a key component of the agreement.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Mindy Belz’s “Answering jihad,” written just before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001.

Onize Ohikere

Onize is WORLD’s Africa reporter and deputy global desk chief. She is a World Journalism Institute graduate and earned a journalism degree from Minnesota State University–Moorhead. Onize resides in Abuja, Nigeria.

@onize_ohiks