Kabul, March 2: Two days after signing of the "historic" peace deal with the United States, Taiban is apparently considering to violate the pact by resuming its "military operations" in Afghanistan. The insurgent group's spokesman, in a statement issued on Monday, said it would resume the Afghan operations and end the partial truce - imposed since last fortnight - with immediate effect. Taliban Peace Deal Explained: US Out in 14 Months, Intra-Afghan Talks and Challenges.

The announcement was preceded by a denial from Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to one of the key demands of the Taliban - seeking release of nearly 5,000 of its captured militant. Their release is kept as a pre-condition by Taliban for any further negotiations with Kabul over power sharing and redrawing of the political structure.

Several among the 5,000 fighters, whose release is being demanded by the Taliban, are feared to be "ultra-radicalised" who may not give up the arms even on insistence of the group leaders. Afghan Intelligence also fears that the release militants may join ISIS-Khorasan, Al-Qaeda or extremist group to wage their war against the Afghan state.

Update by AFP

Analysts are viewing the fresh move of Taliban as a pressure tactic against President Ghani to compel him to release the captured insurgents. If Taliban ends up resuming the warfare, it would lead to the abrogation of peace deal, signed in Doha on Saturday after 17 months of negotiation. One of the foundational principles of the pact is "intra-Afghan talks", with the US to act as a facilitator in the negotiations between Taliban and the Afghan government.

The truce, which Taliban ended today, was announced in January by the group after it entered into the final set of negotiations with the United States. The embargo placed on armed struggles led to the "reduction of violence by nearly 80 percent", said a top official in the Kabul administration.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 02, 2020 06:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).