Former Afghan National Army Lieutenant General Sami Sadat has announced the start of coordinated armed operations against the Taliban regime under the newly-formed Afghanistan United Front (AUF).
In a public address delivered beneath the tricolour flag of the former Afghan Republic, Sadat said the campaign would combine military action with political and diplomatic efforts to restore constitutional rule in the country.
According to reports, he also announced that the AUF had authorised a phased nationwide campaign nearly five years after the Taliban returned to power.
Sadat said the opening phase would focus on Taliban fighters, military facilities and senior commanders before expanding operations across the country.
He added that the decision followed what he described as the failure of nearly five years of appeals by Afghans and civil society to gain meaningful international support.
Sadar argued that negotiations with the Taliban had produced no results, leaving armed resistance as the only remaining option to achieve what he called a free and constitutional Afghanistan.
He also alleged that the Taliban had subjected the Afghan people to repression, fear and systematic human rights abuses, and claimed the country had become a sanctuary for Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant groups.
Sadat further alleged that Afghanistan’s natural resources were being used to finance said organisations.
He also called on former members of the Afghan National Security and Defence Forces, political leaders and Afghans at home and abroad to unite under the republic’s tricolour flag and support the AUF.
Sadat said the movement was not seeking foreign troops or military bases, but was requesting political and material assistance from the international community.
He pledged that AUF forces would comply with international humanitarian law, the rules governing armed conflict and the protection of civilians, while fighting the Taliban and other militant organisations.
Sadar also said the AUF regarded itself as the legitimate successor to the former Afghan National Army. Its stated objective, he added, is to restore an independent constitutional order under the 2004 Constitution and through a Loya Jirga, Afghanistan’s traditional grand assembly of political, tribal and community representatives.
