Afghan officials say Taliban attacks kill 11 troops, police

Militants have killed 28 members of the Afghan security forces, police said on Monday.
The attack comes as the Afghan government postponed a release of 100 Taliban prisoners, scheduled for March 31. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani last week announced his 21-member team to negotiate peace with the Taliban, but his rival, Abdullah Abdullah, rejected it.
Police said that the militants stormed the compound of a top police official in the northeastern province of Takhar on March 29, killing 13 police officers and wounding the senior official. It also said that Taliban fighters attacked government security outposts in the southern province of Zabul, killing at least 11 soldiers. The Taliban have not claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Ghani and Abdullah, who both declared themselves president in parallel inauguration ceremonies earlier this month, have been locked in a feud that has prompted the United States to say it would cut $1 billion in assistance to Afghanistan if the two couldn’t “get their act together.”
A spokesman for the Afghan National Security Adviser’s office said Monday that Afghan officials and the Taliban agreed during a video conference that the Taliban should a delegation to Kabul to conduct further discussions with government officials.
However, a Taliban spokesman said the arrival of the Taliban team was delayed due to technical issues.