- The Taliban has announced the opening of their annual spring offensive. They said that they would continue fighting as long as foreign forces remained in Afghanistan.The spring offensive has been named as ‘Operation Fath’.
- Operation Fath which means victory in Arabic will be conducted across Afghanistan.The aim of the operation is for (a)eradicating foreign occupation (b)cleansing Afghanistan from invasion and corruption and (c)establishing an Islamic system.
- The Taliban has ruled large parts of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001,before being ousted in a US-led invasion.After years of insurgency, it now controls half of the country once more,mostly rural areas.
- Further,U.S and Taliban negotiators are set to resume talks in April to try to conclude discussions on a preliminary draft agreement about a timeline for foreign forces to exit Afghanistan in exchange for insurgent assurances that they would disallow terrorists from using the Afghan soil for attacks against other countries.
- The US has also been urging the Taliban to accept a cease-fire and hold talks directly with the Afghan government.However,Taliban has refused to engage with Afghan government as it considers the Afghan government illegitimate.
