On Sunday morning, unidentified gunmen killed two female Afghan Supreme Court judges, police said, adding to a series of assassinations in Kabul and other cities while members of the government and the Taliban were holding peace talks in Qatar.
The two judges, who have not yet been appointed, were killed and their driver injured in an assault at around 8:30 a.m., police said, adding that security forces were investigating the case.
A Taliban spokesman said that its fighters were not involved.
A statement condemning attacks by the Taliban and other militant groups on civilians was released by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
“Terror, horror and crime,” Ghani said, was not a solution to the issue of Afghanistan, and urged the Taliban to embrace “a permanent ceasefire.”
In recent months, government officials, journalists, and activists have been attacked, causing fear, especially in Kabul, the capital.
The Taliban has denied involvement in any of the attacks but has said its fighters, while not journalists or members of civil society, will continue to “eliminate” important government figures.
Rising violence as Washington withdraws troops has complicated U.S.-brokered peace talks taking place in Doha.
Sources from both sides claim that talks are only likely to advance significantly once the U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is taking office and announcing his Afghan policy.
The number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has been reduced to 2,500, according to the Pentagon on Friday, the lowest level of American forces there since 2001.
Source: Reuters