Taliban rejects Afghan government's peace offer, announces spring offensive
Kabul, April 25: The Taliban on Wednesday announced the start of the new spring offensive, rejecting a proposal for dialogue from the Afghan government, describing it as an attempt to "cheat and conspire".
The militant group said in a statement that the fresh offensive "was partly a response to US President Donald Trump's new strategy announced in August that paved the way for the deployment of thousands of more foreign troops in Afghanistan", Khaama Press reported.
The Taliban said that "'Operation Al-Khandaq' will kick off across the country from Wednesday under which they will continue attacks on the Afghan and foreign forces, with "American invaders and their intelligence agents" as the primary target.
It also warned Afghans to stay away from the compounds of the foreign, Afghan forces as well as the convoys. The Taliban also slammed the government initiative launched on February 28 in which President Ashraf Ghani offered them peace talks "without preconditions", along with political recognition, issuing passports, relocation of their families and a release of prisoners.
It was the most ambitious proposal so far from the government to the Taliban. The militant group called the Afghan government's efforts "nothing but a conspiracy orchestrated by the foreign occupiers for enervating, crushing and eventually pacifying the ongoing legitimate Afghan resistance".
The militant organisation, which made an offer for dialogue to the US government in January, accused Washington of having "no serious or sincere intentions of bringing the war to an end".
"Rather they want to intensify and prolong it (the war) by engulfing Afghanistan as well as the whole region in its flames, thus securing chances of their further influence and interference," the Taliban said.
Since the formal end of NATO's combat mission in January 2015, the Afghan government has been steadily losing ground to insurgents and now controls only 57 per cent of the country, according to the US Special Inspector General for Reconstruction of Afghanistan.
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Karnataka approves railway barricades in Madikeri, Nagarhole to curb human-elephant conflict
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre on Tuesday said a 7-km railway barricade has been approved for the Madikeri division and 20 km for the Nagarhole division in 2025–26 to curb human-elephant conflict in the regions.
Responding to a proposal raised by BJP MLC Suja Kushalappa during Zero Hour in the Legislative Council, he assured that work on the proposed railway barricades would begin soon.
Citing the death of a 17-year-old girl in an elephant attack on February 28 and that of a tribal woman on March 9 in the state, the minister said these deaths caused by elephant attacks were "extremely painful".
"Human life is very precious and cannot be valued in monetary terms. The Forest Department is taking all measures to prevent human-wildlife conflict."
The minister further said steps such as maintenance of elephant-proof trenches and solar-powered fencing were being undertaken, while two elephant task forces were currently in operation.
Orders have also been issued by the Chief Wildlife Warden to capture two rogue elephants.
In both cases, Rs 5 lakh compensation has already been disbursed to the families of the deceased, and the remaining Rs 15 lakh each will be provided within a week, he added.
Khandre said the government was making sincere efforts to find a permanent solution to the human–elephant conflict.
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