(ATN News): In a series of tweets, Khalilzad said: \u201cThe answer to this tragic situation is an immediate reduction of violence leading to a ceasefire by all sides. The answer is to accelerate a political settlement.\u201d \u201cThe US is singularly focused on this goal & is pressing both parties to reduce violence & find a path to peace as soon as possible,\u201d he tweeted.\u00a0 Khalilzad stated however that independent bodies also need to document current events.\u00a0 \u201cIt is vital that Afghanistan\u2019s independent media and robust civil society be allowed to document current events,\u201d he said. This comes after a particularly violent week in Afghanistan in which dozens of civilians lost their lives.\u00a0 On Saturday, at least 18 people, mostly students, were killed in a suicide bombing close to an educational facility in Kabul city.\u00a0 Also on Saturday, nine people were killed in Ghazni when the vehicle they were traveling in hit a roadside bomb.\u00a0 Earlier in the week, an airstrike hit a mosque and school in Takhar province, killing at least 12 children.\u00a0 Reacting to this incident, Khalilzad tweed that Afghanistan\u2019s Independent Human Rights Commission has confirmed 12 children were killed and many more injured in the airstrike by Afghan government forces. \u201cThis is a terrible tragedy. Unfortunately, tragedy is not limited to Takhar. Civilians are victims of car bombs, IEDs, and targeted killings perpetrated by the Taliban. Civilians have been forced to flee fighting in Lashkar Gah and other areas.\u201d He said the US offers its \u201ccondolences to all the families of those killed and injured.\u201d This statement by Khalilzad follows on the heels of government\u2019s rejection of claims last week that the Afghan National Army airstrike had hit a mosque and school.\u00a0 First Vice President Amrullah Saleh rejected the claims made by local officials in Takhar province and instead ordered the arrest of the individual who reported civilian casualties. Local officials said 12 children had been killed and 18 civilians wounded in the strike in Hazara Qarluq village in Takhar on Wednesday morning. Saleh, rejected claims, stated: \u201cNo child was killed in Afghan Air Force strike in Takhar.\u201d He also stated that the Taliban sniper unit \u201cresponsible for the massacre of our special forces a day earlier was targeted.\u201d \u201cThe person responsible for spread of this venomous and fake news was arrested immediately. Talibs use houses and mosques as shields,\u201d Saleh tweeted. Saleh also wrote on Facebook that legal action would be taken against those \u201cwho make false allegations.\u201dMeanwhile, associate Asia director for Human Rights Watch Patricia Gossman said on Thursday: \u201cVice President Amrullah Saleh is trying to silence those who reported a potentially unlawful airstrike that killed civilians, including many children,\u201d said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director.\u00a0\u201cThe government should immediately release anyone detained under Saleh\u2019s order and carry out a thorough and impartial investigation of the airstrike.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(ATN News): In a series of tweets, Khalilzad said: \u201cThe answer to this tragic situation is an immediate reduction of violence leading to a ceasefire by all sides. The answer is to accelerate a political settlement.\u201d \u201cThe US is singularly focused on this goal & is pressing both parties to reduce violence & find a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archived-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3089"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3090,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions\/3090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}