Taliban promotes training of fighters despite ongoing peace talks with US

The Taliban continues to promote the training of its fighters and attacks on Afghan and coalition forces, even as the group inches closer to signing a peace deal with the United States aimed at ending the 18-year-long war in Afghanistan.

A new video released by the insurgent group on its official Website, Voice of Jihad on Sunday showed its fighters training for war as well along with a montage of attacks on Afghan and coalition forces, according to a report by Bill Roggio published in the American news website, Long War Journal.

One shot in the video showed the group traveling in MUVs, led by a brand new Toyota H-Luxs adorned with large white Taliban flags. As pointed out in the report, the scene indicates that the Taliban is operating in broad daylight without fear of being targeted by the US, Afghan or Pakistan forces (the latter being in consideration that the group could be training on the Pakistani soil).

Other scenes show the group conducting weapon drills and parading on horseback carrying white flags of the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Just as in the previous scene, the training takes place in broad daylight, implying that the group does not fear being targeted.

The video is part of the propaganda churned out by the group to show that it is prepared to continue to fight against the Afghan government. Albeit, the latest video is concerning as it comes at a time when the recent developments pertaining to the US-Taliban peace talks indicate that the two are inching closer towards signing a peace deal.

The talks are centered around the US' promise to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, in exchange for the guarantee by the former that the Afghan soil, particularly the areas under the Taliban control would not become a platform for transnational terrorism.