Taliban fighters have killed at least 14 members of a pro-government militia in Afghanistan and an American Service member, officials said, as the group aims to reach a deal with the United States to end the 18-year war.
Government officials said on Wednesday that several civilians were wounded in the clashes in the western province of Herat.
Abdul Ahad Walizada, a spokesman for the Herat police, said the men were killed in Rubat-e-Sangi district of Herat after a large number of Taliban fighters stormed security checkpoints in the Chahardara area.
"At least nine others are wounded in the clashes and the Taliban fighters were pushed back after Afghan forces reinforced the area," said Walizada.
Taliban officials were not immediately available for comment, but the Associated Press news agency said the group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Separately, in eastern Nangarhar province, governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said a university professor was killed and two others wounded on Tuesday when a bomb attached to their vehicle went off in Jalalabad, the provincial capital.
No one has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack in Nangarhar, where the Taliban and a local affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) are active.
The Taliban has been staging near-daily attacks across the country, usually targetting Afghan forces and government officials, or those seen as loyal to the government.
The latest attacks came as the US and Taliban officials are said to be nearing an agreement, after months of negotiations, under which the US would start to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in exchange for Taliban's pledge that it will not allow the country to harbour other hardline Muslim armed groups.
Despite negotiations, the fighting has not subsided, as the civilian casualty rates across Afghanistan jumped back to record levels last month.
According to the United Nations, more than 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded in the Afghan conflict in July alone, the highest monthly casualties so far this year and the worst in a single month since May 2017.
An American service member was killed in Afghanistan on Friday, the US-led Nato mission said, the latest US fatality as talks between Washington and the Taliban continue.
“A US service member died during combat operations in Afghanistan, August 29, 2019,” Nato's Resolute Support mission said in a statement.
The death brings to at least 15 the number of members of the US military to be killed in action in Afghanistan this year, just as Washington is seeking a way out of its longest war.
Nato did not immediately provide any additional information. On August 21, two US Army commandos were killed in action in Afghanistan.
The death comes as the US and the Taliban continue to seek an agreement in Doha that would see thousands of American troops leave Afghanistan in return for various security guarantees.
There are currently approximately 13,000 US troops in Afghanistan.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States will keep a permanent presence in Afghanistan, with 8,600 troops initially, even after a deal is reached with the Taliban.
Trump also warned that if another attack on the US originated from Afghanistan, “we would come back with a force like ... never before.”
Washington has been talking to the Taliban since at least 2018, with the main sticking point being how to get sufficient guarantees that Taliban territory will not be used by Al Qaeda or other international militant groups to plot attacks on America.
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