WASHINGTON/KABUL, 26 June, 2021 (TON): Taking notice of the increased Taliban attacks in the region, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Washington is assessing whether the group is serious about ending the conflict in Afghanistan.

“We are looking very carefully at the security on the ground in Afghanistan and we’re also looking very hard at whether the Taliban is, at all, serious about a peaceful resolution of the conflict,” Blinken told a joint news conference with France's foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian,

Afghan Defense Ministry on Friday said that six districts were retaken from the Taliban since Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, the Afghan peace process has stalled as the clashes between security forces and the Taliban remain at their highest level in the last two months.

However, some members of the Afghan Republic’s negotiating team are still in Doha. The two sides, the Republic and the Taliban negotiators held two meetings this month at the contact group level to discuss the possibility of future meetings between the two delegations. However, there hasn’t been tangible progress in resuming the stalled negotiations.