AFGHANISTAN INTELLIGENCE DENIES TALKS WITH TALIBAN

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On August 31, Afghanistan Intelligence Service denied in an official statement any official talks with Taliban officials.

The statement came after a report of the Associated Press (AP) released a report that officials from the Afghanistan Intelligence Service talk with Talban officials almost on daily bases.

The AP report that was published on August 30 said that Afghani officials held talks with the Taliban leadership in Pakistan and with the Taliban office in Qatar.

The AP said that its report is based on official documents that describe these talks. The documents were shown to the AP by a senior Afghan security official, according to the report.

In the last few years many reports claimed that negotiations were ongoing between the Afghani government and the Taliban. Some reports even said that there were negotiations between the US and the Taliban, mainly in Qatar.

On August 30, the Taliban news agency Voice of Jihad claimed that Taliban fighters repelled an attack of the Afghani Army and Police. Voice of Jihad claimed that 19 Afghani soldiers and policemen were killed in the failed attack and 11 others were injured.

On August 31, Voice of Jihad claimed that two Personal Armored Carriers (APCs) of the Afghani Army were destroyed with 3 IEDs in Gharchi Do Rahi area of Khakrez district.

Meanwhile, aircraft with removed identification marks have reportedly started transferring groups of ISIS fighters as well as some separate ISIS emissaries from southern to northern Afghanistan. According to reports, these aircraft operate under cover of the US-led coalition.

Reports also appear that the coalition also covers weapons supplies to ISIS in and via Afghanistan. The goal is to boost a point of instability at the southern flank of Russia.

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