Afghanistan's National Security Council (NSC) on Saturday released data on civilian casualties, saying 23 civilians were killed and 45 others were wounded in Taliban violence over the last week.

The Taliban has not responded.

Figures by the National Security Council indicate that 16 provinces of the country have witnessed 284 attacks by the Taliban in the last seven days.

NSC spokesman Javed Faisal said in a tweet that “the Taliban continue to take the lives of civilians in Afghanistan” and that “this violent phase of attacks on civilians can only deteriorate the already shaken trust on the will of the Taliban.”

According to data from the NSC, the violence happened in 16 provinces, including Kabul, Kandahar, Nangarhar and Herat.

This comes a day after an official of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights (AIHRC) called for practical steps by the Taliban to reduce violence.

Abdullah Abdullah, head of the High Council for National Reconciliation who with a speech closed a consultative meeting on peace with envoys from 20 countries, on Thursday called the level of violence by the Taliban unacceptable and urged for efforts to move the peace process forward.

Statistics by AIHRC show that 86,823 civilians were killed and wounded in 2019 in Afghanistan.

But a Taliban spokesman has claimed that the attacks initiated by the group have reduced by 60 percent. In the US-Taliban deal, the Taliban committed to not attack cities and highways in the country.

Critics say that Taliban violence will continue at least until the US elections in November, because of the uncertainty of the fate of the US-Taliban deal signed in February.

https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/23-civilians-killed-last-week-nsc