In discussions with the international community in Doha, Qatar, the Afghan government has raised its concerns over the Taliban’s brutal attacks on cities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Thursday.

According to the statement, Afghanistan has raised the issue of these attacks which have led to “war crimes and blatant human rights violations and humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan”.

According to MoFA, the Head of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah, who is leading the Republic’s negotiating team in Doha, on Wednesday attended the Extended Troika meeting.

Also present at the meeting was the United States, Russia, China, and Pakistan.

“The chairman of the High Council for Reconciliation called on the international community, especially the Troika meeting member states, to adopt serious measures to prevent Taliban attacks on cities, which have led to war crimes, widespread human rights abuses and humanitarian catastrophe.

“Mr Abdullah also stressed the need to start meaningful and sincere negotiations to establish an immediate ceasefire and reach a political agreement,” the statement read.

MoFA said it “reiterates that the continuation of the Taliban’s bloody attacks in collusion with regional and international terrorists will not only lead to a humanitarian catastrophe and the protraction of war in Afghanistan, but also exacerbate violent extremism and incite terrorists in the region posing a serious and irreparable threat to the collective security of the region and the world”.

The statement added that by “stopping the Taliban violence and crimes in direct collusion with regional and international terrorists will be not only in the interest of Afghanistan but in the interest of the whole world, especially the countries of the region”.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Haneef Atmar also spoke out on Thursday and said the current levels of violence have had a “devastating impact on our country. It has literally disrupted and eroded security, rule of law and public service delivery in over half of our country.

“The loss of critical terrain and also cross-border trade points have had a significant impact on the humanitarian situation, and then trade and market functioning in the country, we’ve lost already since mid-April over 6,000 people,” he said.

Atmar also stated that at least 4,000 “of our brave national security forces and over 2,000 from the civilians,” have been killed.

He said if one tallies the wounded in this time, it amounts to over 15,000.

Atmar said that “over the past couple of months, this is the highest figure we have ever experienced. Over the past two decades the humanitarian crisis is overwhelming with over 18 million of our people now facing hunger and in need of immediate humanitarian assistance because of the devastating impact of the recent wave of terror and violence, the combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the drought have been exacerbated by the way of the recent wave of violence”.