The Civilian Protection Working Group (CPWG) on Sunday expressed concern over increasing civilian casualties in the conflict in western Herat province, saying thousands of families would be forced to leave their homes if the situation did not improve.

The Afghan general consul in Dubai, Masoud Azizi, said that 28 were sent to Kabul this week. At least 200 Afghan nationals have been released from Dubai prisons with the help of the Afghan consulate over the last eight months, officials from the consulate said on Sunday.

Authorities in Afghanistan say they have rearrested 600 members of the Taliban who were freed from imprisonment as part of a peace-building agreement between the United States and the insurgent group. Afghanistan’s national security adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, made the announcement Sunday, alleging the men in question had returned to the battlefield to plot deadly attacks against government forces and civilians.

Taliban militants have been battered in the southern Kandahar province as 38 were killed amid the call for a truce in the northern Kunduz as fighting gets momentum in both the restive provinces.

The Ministry of Defense says that 56 insurgents have been killed in clashes with security forces in different parts of the country in the past 24 hours. Mod stated, that Taliban fighters had gathered in different parts of the Arghandab district of Kandahar province yesterday to attack the positions of the security forces.

President Ashraf Ghani has said that Kabul-Islamabad ties are weak and the Taliban should cut their ties with Pakistan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked Pakistan and other countries with a stake in Afghanistan’s future to put pressure on the Taliban to agree to a reduction in violence, a ceasefire and to cut their ties with terrorist groups.

NSA Hamdullah Mohib said that the Taliban is trying to take power militarily. The Afghan government is preparing for ramped-up fighting amid slow progress in the peace negotiations in Doha, with National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib saying the Taliban does not want peace and that based on intelligence information, the group is making itself ready for the next fighting season.

Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs Haneef Atmar said the Taliban has to agree to a ceasefire if the group wants to exonerate itself of being responsible for the high levels of violence across Afghanistan.

A senior official of De Afghanistan Bank, (the Central Bank) was targeted in an IED explosion in Kabul early Sunday morning, the bank confirmed. The bank said in a statement that Abdullah Dawrani, the head of the Financial Dispute Resolution Commission, was the target in an IED explosion at around 8.15 am this morning.

China and Tajikistan have increased the number of border troops and outposts along their borders with Afghanistan, security forces confirmed. An Ariana News reporter also reported having seen the increase in military presence after flying over the area in a helicopter.