Afghanistan News: Taliban Attacks Kill More Than 40 People Ahead Of Political Talks

The Taliban carried out multiple terrorist attacks across Afghanistan a day before the organization enters into political negotiations with the Afghan government.

More than 40 people were killed on Tuesday with 13 Afghan soldiers being targeted in eastern Khost Province, while 23 people, among them civilians, died in western Ghor province. In northern Afghanistan, Taliban members overran a military outpost, killing at least six Afghan police and soldiers, the New York Times reported.

On Monday, the Associated Press reported that 10 Afghan soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing while four members of the Afghan security forces were attacked at checkpoints at the Sari Pul province in northern Afghanistan.

These attacks come as candidates competing to replace Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and members of the Taliban land in Moscow to celebrate 100 years of diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and the Russian Federation. This celebration also serves as a pretext for Afghan politicians to meet with the Taliban to put an end to the cycle of violence.

Mullah Ghani Abdul Baradar, the Taliban's deputy leader said that his organization was "committed for peace." Russia has its own view on the talks, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demanded a "total pullout" of U.S. and NATO forces there.

The Taliban are a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist group that governed Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001 and made Afghanistan into tightly controlled Islamic Emirate. The U.S. declared war on the Taliban in 2001 and invaded Afghanistan, due to the group harboring al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden, who was responsible for the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

The Taliban still maintains an insurgency in Afghanistan, as it frequently targets the Afghan government that was set up by the U.S. and NATO in order to undermine the country's security.