WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Taliban attacks against Afghan Security Forces and civilians began escalating during the winter of 2015 after peace overtures failed.
"After a series of bloody attacks that took lives across Afghanistan over the last few months, finally the Afghan government, with the backing of the Afghan people… have decided they are going to go on the offensive," Samad stated on Monday.
Despite the escalation in violence, Samad said Afghan leaders are going to "go on the offensive and try to keep the doors for talks open" to the Taliban.
Over the past 18 months, international brokers have sought to bring the Taliban into peace negotiations with the Afghan government.
Samad, who most recently served as a senior policy advisor to Afghan Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah, noted that the international "peace overtures… have run their course for now."
The format for any future peace talks "may take on a different form over time," Samad added, noting that the Afghan government will need to reassess its strategy before resuming negotiations.
"What you will see over the next few months, I think, is an escalation in fighting, but there will probably be some attempts to broker some smaller-scale talks… that over time could lead to something more official," he said.
US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asserted in March that fighting in Afghanistan will be even more intense than in 2015, continuing what he termed a "deteriorating security" trend in the country.
