Afghan government will reconsider its commitments on peace process if the Taliban fail to reduce violence, Second Vice President Sarwar Danish warned on Wednesday.
Speaking at an event in west of Kabul, Danish said that peace is strategic priority for the government and it is adhering to its commitments in this regard.
He said that the government expects the Taliban to adhere to their commitments as well.
“Taliban and their supporters should know that they will not reach their objectives by increasing violence,” Danish said. “If they intensify fighting, terrorist attacks and killing of innocent people, the Afghan government will have to rethink on all issues and use any means to defend the country and support people.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the National Security Council said that on average, the Taliban has carried out 44 attacks and killed or wounded 24 civilians everyday in Afghanistan since the Feb. 22 reduction in violence week.
The US-Taliban deal signed in February expects the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners and the group to free 1,000 government prisoners as a confidence building measure before intra-Afghan talks.
The government has released around 4,000 prisoners so far. However, the release of Taliban commanders accused of conducting large-scale attacks that killed civilians in recent years has been a matter of dispute.
On Tuesday, US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chief of High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah discussed the latest on peace process, reduction of violence, starting intra-Afghan talks, completing release of prisoners and regional support for peace.
