President Ghani orders Afghan troops to switch to ‘offensive mode’ after new attacks

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ordered the military to move to “offensive mode” on Tuesday, shifting away from a defensive stance it had taken as part of efforts to reduce violence as the US tries to broker peace talks.

“In order to provide security for public places and to thwart attacks and threats from the Taliban and other terrorist groups, I am ordering Afghan security forces to switch from an active defense mode to an offensive one and to start their operations against the enemies,” Ghani said in a televised speech.

The comments followed a violent day in which gunmen killed 16 people at a maternity clinic in Kabul and more than 20 died in a suicide bomb attack at a funeral in eastern Afghanistan, Reuters reported. The Taliban have denied they were involved in the attacks.