Afghan Taliban Start Annual Operation to Kill, Capture Americans

(Bloomberg) -- The Taliban announced a new operation against U.S. forces in Afghanistan from Wednesday, hurting efforts by the government in Kabul to reach a peace deal with the militant group.

The operation will mainly focus on “crushing, killing and capturing American invaders and their supporters," Zabihullah Mujahed, a spokesman for the Taliban, said in a statement. U.S. President Donald Trump’s war strategy in Afghanistan “sabotages” all chances of peace as the U.S. has no sincere intention of ending the war, he said.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in February offered an unprecedented peace offer to the group, which controls or contests nearly half of Afghanistan. Ghani’s national security adviser Haneef Atmar said last month he was optimistic about reaching peace with the Taliban.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eltaf Najafizada in Kabul at enajafizada1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Khalid Qayum, Chris Kay

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