Taliban Views US Airstrikes as ‘Open Challenge for Doha Agreements’

"The recent airstrikes by the US military in support of the Afghan Army in Kandahar and Gilmend provinces are an open challenge to the Doha agreements," the statement says, TOLO News reported.

"This step will have serious consequences for the international coalition," it added.

On Thursday, Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby confirmed that the US Air Force carried out a series of airstrikes in the last few days within the framework of support to the Afghan military against the Taliban. He refused to provide any details of the strikes.

In February 2020, the Donald Trump Administration and the Taliban signed a peace agreement in Doha. According to the agreement, the US, its allies and the coalition vowed to withdraw all forces from Afghanistan within 14 months. In turn, the Taliban vowed not to use the territory of Afghanistan for actions that threaten the security of the US and its allies.

In April 2021, President Joe Biden announced the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which is supposed to be completed by September 11, 2021. The Taliban considers this decision a violation of the Doha agreement, which stipulated, in particular, that the US forces must have withdrawn by May 1, 2021.

Also on Friday, the Taliban said there will not be peace in Afghanistan until President Ashraf Ghani is removed and there is a new negotiated government in Kabul.

Taliban Spokesman Suhail Shaheen stated the insurgents would end their fighting when a negotiated government that agrees with all sides of the conflict is established in Kabul, and Ghani's government is removed. 

“I want to make it clear that we do not believe in the monopoly of power because any governments who [sought] to monopolize power in Afghanistan in the past were not successful governments,” Shaheen told The Associated Press, adding, “So we do not want to repeat that same formula.”

“You know, no one wants a civil war, including me,” Shaheen stressed.