KABUL -- Taliban militants announced their annual spring offensive in a statement Wednesday (April 25), in an apparent rejection of calls for the group to take up the Afghan government's offer of peace talks.
The annual spring offensive traditionally marks the start of the so-called fighting season, though this winter the Taliban continued to carry out attacks in which many civilians lost their lives.
Afghanistan's largest militant group has been under pressure to accept Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's February offer of peace talks, but the statement made no mention of the proposal.
Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanesh dismissed the Taliban announcement as "propaganda".
