"Daesh* militants have become very active in northern Afghanistan recently, rather than the Taliban*, because the United States strikes the latter, but does not touch the former ones. The Taliban members are often offered to surrender to the Afghan government forces or persuaded to join DAesh, provide their assistance to it … Large-scale operations are now being carried out against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan because the Taliban agreed to participate in this [Moscow format] meeting," Aimaq said.
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Afghanistan's government forces have long been fighting Taliban insurgency, as well as the Daesh terrorist group, with the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces conducting joint counterterrorist operations across the country.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) and Taliban are terrorist groups banned in Russia.
