MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Afghanistan believes that the Taliban militants will retaliate for their killed leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai said Thursday.
"We are trying to launch a dialogue but it seems to us that they [the Taliban militants] will retaliate for the death of their leader and it will be difficult to start the dialogue," Karzai said at the round table organized by the Russian International Affairs Council.
Afghanistan is struggling with a political, economical and social crisis as it attempts to tackle the Taliban's insurgency. The situation in the country has worsened in recent months, with the Taliban launching offensives in major cities.
In May, Mansour was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province near the Afghan border.
Later that month, the Taliban confirmed it had appointed Haibatullah Akhundzada as its new leader to replace Mansour.
