Trump told Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight on Monday that nearly half of all American troops have already been pulled out.

That pullout was expected to be announced as part of a time frame being negotiated by Washington’s peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is in the middle of talks with the Taliban in Qatar.

“I’ve wanted to pull them out. And you know, I have pulled a lot out. We were at 16,000. We’re down to about 9,000, which a lot of people don’t know,” Trump said, according to the transcript of the interview shared with The Associated Press. “So we’ve reduced the force very substantially in Afghanistan, which I don’t talk about very much, and that’s OK,” Trump added.

According to a senior U.S. defense official, however, there are still close to 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan — a number that has remained fairly steady for many months.

The Taliban’s spokesman in Doha, Suhail Shaheen, has said that talks with Khalilzad are focused on a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan. In a tweet on Monday, Shaheen had said talks would come with an announcement of a timetable for withdrawal of the estimated 20,000 service personnel, including American forces.

Trump’s comments Monday would seem to contradict a statement made by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a visit to Kabul on June 25. Pompeo said then that Washington had made no decision on a timeframe for withdrawal.

Trump also said in the Monday TV interview that he wanted to leave a strong intelligence gathering force behind in Afghanistan.

“I’ll tell you the problem is, look, I would like to just get out. The problem is, (Afghanistan) just seems to be a lab for terrorists. It seems — I call it the Harvard of terrorists. … But I would leave very strong intelligence there,” he said, according to the transcript.

Meanwhile, on the upcoming all-Afghan dialogue, Germany’s special representative Ambassador Markus Potzel said Tuesday that those attending “will participate only in their personal capacity and on an equal footing.”

The Taliban have flatly refused to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s government, which they consider a U.S. puppet, while repeatedly offering talks with anyone who comes to the table as an ordinary Afghan. The Taliban have already twice met with prominent Afghans, including former president Hamid Karzai and even members of the government’s peace council as well as opposition politicians. Those meetings have both been held in Moscow.

The announced talks come a day after the Taliban claimed responsibility for a devastating attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul that killed at least six people and wounded more than 100 others, many of them children attending two schools in the area, according to the Education Ministry.

Ghani has not responded to the announcement of next week’s talks. He has previously demanded the Taliban talk directly with his government, some of whom have complained about their continuing exclusion from meetings between Taliban and the U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.

Khalilzad, who is currently holding a seventh round of direct talks with the Taliban in Doha, already held a battery of meetings with the Afghan president in Kabul last month. In an overnight tweet, he welcomed the announced all-Afghan talks. He tweeted that “this dialogue is an essential element of the four-part peace framework & and important step in advancing the #AfghanPeaceProcess.”

Germany will co-sponsor the talks with Qatar, according to the statement issued by Potzel, who is the German special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan.

An earlier intra-Afghan dialogue in Qatar was scuttled when the two sides couldn’t agree on participants. Potzel said the invitations this time have been jointly issued by Germany and Qatar.

“Afghanistan stands at a critical moment of opportunity for progress toward peace,” Potzel said in the statement. “Only Afghans themselves can decide the future of their country.” He said both Qatar and Germany are hoping the talks will create trust between the warring sides.

But for ordinary Afghans battered by relentless violence there is mostly frustration.

“Peace will never come to Afghanistan,” said an angry Sawab Gul, who was waiting in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Tuesday to open his partially destroyed bedding store.

At age 40, Gul said he has never seen peace in his country and holds out little hope for the current attempts at finding an end to Afghanistan’s relentless wars.

“Every day people are dying. Afghanistan is like a hell for us Afghans,” he said. “I don’t think I will ever see peace.”

Shah reported from Kabul.

At least 26 children were among the wounded, many of whom were cut by shards of glass when the bomb shattered nearby windows, government spokesman Feroz Bashari said. He said a total of 105 people were hurt.

The Taliban claimed the attack, which came as the insurgents were holding their latest round of talks with U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in the Gulf state of Qatar, where they have a political office.

The insurgents struck during the morning commute, and ambulance sirens wailed across the downtown area.

Mohammad Karim, a police official in the area of the attack, said a car bomb exploded outside a Defense Ministry building. Militants then ran into a nearby high-rise located in a crowded market and began firing down on the ministry. Police and special Afghan security forces poured into the area and cordoned it off.

Mohammad Farooq, the owner of a nearby restaurant, said the explosion blew out the windows of a private school, wounding several students.

The capital has been relatively quiet in recent months following a spate of bombings, many claimed by the local Islamic State affiliate. The Taliban have carried out scores of attacks in Kabul in recent years, mostly targeting Afghan and U.S. military installations or convoys.

Pakistan condemned Monday’s attack, saying “such attacks are detrimental to the cause of peace, security and stability in Afghanistan.” Pakistan and Afghanistan routinely exchange accusations of harboring the other’s militant enemies.

Pakistan has reportedly pressed the Taliban — many of whom have homes in Pakistan — into talks. Last week it hosted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for the first time as the two countries sought to reset their troubled relationship.

The latest talks between the United States and the Taliban meanwhile stretched into a third day. The Taliban said their focus is on getting an announcement of a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan. The announcement is likely to be accompanied by a Taliban promise to hold intra-Afghan talks and agree to an eventual cease-fire.

Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, told The Associated Press on Monday that “our main concern is to make sure a timeline for troop pullout is announced.”

Taliban officials have previously told the AP they want all foreign troops withdrawn within six months, while Washington has pushed for a longer timeline of a year to 18 months.

The Taliban have refused to hold talks with the Afghan government, calling it a U.S. puppet, and have continued to carry out daily attacks on Afghan forces. They say Washington is the final arbiter on the troop withdrawal, which the insurgents see as the central issue.

Washington accelerated attempts to find a negotiated end to America’s longest war with the appointment last September of Khalilzad, who was a special presidential representative to Afghanistan and later U.S. ambassador in Kabul in the years immediately following the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban.

During a visit last week to the Afghan capital, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would like to see an agreement before Sept. 1, considered an ambitious deadline by analysts but likely linked to Afghan presidential polls scheduled for later that month. Washington has expressed concern the elections could hamper a peace deal and has quietly advocated for an interim administration for up to two years following an agreement.

Gannon reported from Islamabad

The suicide bomber struck as the convoy passed through Kabul’s eastern Yakatot neighborhood, where U.S. and NATO forces maintain complexes. Facilities operated by the Afghan National Security Forces located nearby.

Firdous Faramaz, Kabul police chief spokesman, said four Afghan civilians were killed and three wounded in the attack.

Bob Purtiman, public affairs officer with the U.S. military in Kabul, said four U.S. service members received minor injuries. The one-line statement did not elaborate.

In a telephone interview, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid took responsibility for Friday’s attack on the U.S. convoy in Kabul, claiming 10 U.S. soldiers were killed. Taliban claims are often exaggerated.

Witnesses said the explosion was powerful, blowing out windows in neighboring buildings. Traffic on the streets was light because the bombing occurred on a Friday, the weekly day off.

On Thursday, six people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside an Afghan army academy and training center, also in the same area but several kilometers (miles) away from Friday’s explosion.

The Interior Ministry on Thursday said a soldier had noticed a suspicious person, and as he approached him the attacker detonated his explosives near the academy. The soldier’s action likely saved lives.

Both the Taliban and an Islamic State affiliate have infiltrated the capital in the past.

In a series of coordinated attacks by Taliban fighters late Thursday in Charchino district in southern Uruzgan province, 11 soldiers and five police were killed, said Mohammad Karim Karimi, deputy provincial council chief. Karimi said he had repeatedly requested the government in Kabul to send additional security forces to the district, which has a strong Taliban presence.

Attacks by the Taliban have continued unabated despite peace talks with the United States as well as a fresh round of talks with Afghan notables this week in the Russian capital Moscow. Following the Moscow talks, Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, said “spectacular progress” was made on some issues, without elaborating.

The Taliban have rejected repeated demands for a cease fire, saying the fighting will continue until U.S. and NATO troops withdraw from Afghanistan. They also continue to refuse to hold direct talks with the Afghan government, calling them U.S. puppets, yet several senior government personalities, including members of a Kabul peace council attended the Moscow meeting. The Taliban have said they will meet with members of the government, but as ordinary Afghans, rather than as government representatives.

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Associated Press writer Kathy Gannon in Kabul, Afghanistan contributed to this report

The soldiers were killed by friendly fire Wednesday in what was supposed to be a precision airstrike by U.S. forces supporting Afghan soldiers battling insurgents near the city of Tarin Kot in Uruzgan province.

The Defense Ministry earlier said the fatalities were the result of a miscommunication between Afghan troops on the ground and forces in the air, without providing details.

Lawmaker Obaidullah Barikzai from Uruzgan province told The Associated Press that Afghan soldiers inside the base in Tarin Kot believed a darkened convoy approaching the base was the Taliban — not U.S. and Afghan forces — and opened fire, invoking a blistering retaliation.

The Taliban often travel in convoys with no vehicle lights on, Barikzai said. The Taliban control vast areas of Uruzgan province and the Afghan security forces had been on alert that an attack could be coming.

A U.S. air-to-ground strike was called in to aid the convoy when it came under fire. Barikzai said it hit the Afghan army base, located barely 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the governor’s house, but other reports say the strike hit outside the post, which had recently been moved from one location to another.

The U.S. military said Wednesday it responded to incoming fire on Afghan and U.S. forces on the ground and attempted to come to their defense by conducting a precision airstrike.

Barikzai said many of the wounded in the deadly incident were in critical condition but did not provide details.

Despite intensified negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan, the insurgents have been carrying out near-daily attacks across the country, mainly targeting the government and security forces and causing staggering casualties.

Meanwhile, in the capital of northern Balkh province, shops and businesses were closed in a city-wide strike to protest the appointment of a new provincial police chief over the objections of a former governor and powerful warlord.

New police chief Abdul Raqib Mubarez landed at the airport in Mazar-e-Sharif on Thursday but police blocked him from heading into the city to take up his post. The standoff escalated into a firefight that lasted several hours between government forces and militia members loyal to warlord Atta Mohammad Nur.

It ended with 25 of Nur’s militia jailed, said Interior Ministry spokesman Nusrat Rahimi. One member of the government security forces was wounded, he said.

The development could escalate into an all-out feud between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Nur, a powerful warlord who holds sway over Balkh province. He is also is a prominent member of the so-called Northern Alliance that was led by Ahmad Shah Masoud, who was killed in a suicide bombing on Sept. 9, 2001, just two days before the terrorist attacks in the United States.

Several years ago Afghanistan legalized militias loyal to the country’s warlords, many of whom took up government positions after the overthrow of the Taliban. Initially, after the 2001 collapse of the Taliban, the United Nations ordered all militias disarmed but as the country’s security deteriorated, many warlords both with the government and in opposition redeployed their militias.

Nur called for the city-wide shutdown and is demanding Ghani withdraw Mubarez’s appointment and instead name Nur’s choice for the post, as Ghani allegedly promised.

Associated Press writer Kathy Gannon in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Haroon Chakansuri was responding to reports the Pentagon is developing plans to withdraw 7,000 American soldiers by the summer. He said Afghanistan’s military has been in charge of the country’s security since 2014 when more than 100,000 NATO troops withdrew.

Since then, U.S. forces have provided training and advice, assisting in military operations only when requested by Afghan troops.

However, the Taliban are stronger today than they have been since their ouster in 2001. They control or hold sway over nearly half the country, carrying out near daily attacks that mostly target Afghan security forces.

A Taliban official, who did not want to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media, called the planned withdrawal a “positive step” that can aid efforts at a negotiated end to the fighting.

Since leading the multi-nation invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the U.S. has lost more than 2,400 soldiers and spent more than $900 billion in its longest war

U.S. officials, who revealed the Pentagon planning for a gradual withdrawal from Afghanistan, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

While U.S. soldiers occasionally accompany Afghan troops on ground operations, the bulk of American military action in Afghanistan is the air support provided to Afghan ground troops.

In recent months, there has been a renewed effort to make progress on peace talks with the Taliban. Officials now worry that any move to withdraw U.S. troops this year could dampen those prospects and encourage the Taliban to wait it out until they can take advantage of the gaps when U.S. forces leave.

Withdrawing troops would also seem to contradict U.S. President Donald Trump’s earlier statements that promised to deny Taliban insurgents advance warning of U.S. military strategy. Trump strongly criticized former President Barack Obama for announcing the 2014 withdrawal nearly a year before troops left.

For many Afghans there is a mixed reaction to the presence of U.S. and NATO troops. Many fear their departure believing it will strengthen the Taliban, yet criticize their presence as having done little to improve the security situation, which has deteriorated in recent years.

Associated Press writer Kathy Gannon in Islamabad, Pakistan contributed to this report.

Accompanied by Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mattis met with senior government officials, including President Ashraf Ghani and his leadership partner in the often fractious Unity Government, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. Security featured prominently in their discussions, as did government attempts to put the brakes on runaway government corruption, said a presidential statement following the meetings.

Mattis also assured the Afghan leadership that the United States was committed to stay the course in Afghanistan until the country is secure and stable, the statement said.

There was no indication either from the Afghan government or the U.S. military command of a change in strategy that might bring about greater security or how the existing strategy might bring about results.

Mattis’ visit to Afghanistan, which lasted a little more than six hours, comes amid brutal assaults against the country’s minority Shiites and a fresh round of insider attacks this week that have claimed the life of one American service member and eight local police.

The U.S. has been supporting Afghan forces in an aggressive campaign against Islamic State group insurgents in eastern Nangarhar province, yet the ISIS affiliate has repeatedly been able to carry out horrific and brazen attacks in the heavily fortified capital of Kabul.

The victims have most often been Afghanistan’s minority Shiite Muslims. The radical Sunni Islamic state reviles Shiites as apostates.

On Wednesday, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a wrestling center killing 21 people and wounding 90 others. Two of the dead were journalists who died when a second bomber blew himself up as first responders and journalists rushed to the scene.

On Friday, Afghanistan’s Islamic State group affiliate issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack on the wrestling center. The statement was accompanied by a picture of a young man with a masked face, who was identified as suicide bomber Saber al-Khorasani.

The second explosion was a vehicle filled with explosives, according to the statement, which could not be independently verified. The discrepancy between the IS account and the Afghan government’s initial report of two suicide bombers was not immediately clear.

The Afghan affiliate is known as ISIS in Khorasan province, the ancient name of an area that once included parts of modern-day Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Mattis’ visit to Kabul comes as Washington seems to be ramping up efforts for a negotiated end to Afghanistan’s protracted war and Washington’s longest military engagement.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced this week the appointment of Zalmay Khalilzad as Washington’s new point man for Afghan reconciliation. Khalilzad, a controversial figure in the region, is a former envoy to Afghanistan.

Mattis arrives in Afghanistan fresh off earlier meetings in Pakistan where Pompeo said the U.S. wanted to “reset” its raucous relationship with Pakistan and newly elected Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed optimism, promising to work with Washington for peace. But Khan has repeatedly said Pakistan is no longer interested in partnering with the United States in war.

“This is my promise — that Pakistan will never again fight someone else’s war,” Khan said on Thursday in a speech to mark Pakistan’s Defense Day. As an opposition leader Khan was a sharp critic of Pakistan’s participation in the U.S.-led war on terror.

Still, Pakistan is seen as key to any negotiated end to the Afghan war because of its close relationship with the Taliban. Both Washington and Kabul have been harsh critics of Pakistan for allowing safe havens for Taliban fighters on its territory, a charge Islamabad has denied.

Khalilzad’s appointment was also unwelcome news in Pakistan because of his outspoken attacks on its military and powerful ISI intelligence agency, even suggesting Washington should declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.

Washington last weekend announced it canceled a $300 million Coalition Support Fund payment to Pakistan, which is a payment for costs incurred by Pakistan’s military in the war on terror.

Gannon reported from Islamabad, Pakistan. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed.

No injuries were reported from the mortar rounds that hit in the diplomatic quarter; one struck near the presidential palace, another near a NATO compound and the U.S. Embassy, according to police official Jan Agha.

In response, Afghan helicopter gunships bombed the house from which the rockets were believed to have been launched. Hours later, at least two militants were reported killed.

The booms of the mortar rounds echoed during the live broadcast of Ghani’s speech commemorating the Eid al-Adha holiday, and the president interrupted his remarks to say: “If they are thinking the rocket attack will keep Afghans down, they are wrong.”

The attack came amid an unrelenting wave of deadly violence across the country in recent weeks and dealt another blow to Ghani’s efforts to revive peace talks to end the 17-year war. On Sunday, he had offered a holiday cease-fire, saying it would only take effect if the Taliban reciprocated.

An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility, saying its fighters had fired the shells that struck the heavily fortified Kabul neighborhood. There was no immediate comment from the Taliban.

The Interior Ministry launched an investigation into the security breach.

Former Interior Minister Noorul Haq Olomi blamed political squabbling inside Ghani’s government for distracting the president’s attention from security matters, allowing the near-daily violence by insurgents to continue.

“The deaths every day of our security forces is a big calamity for our country,” said Olomi, now a defense analyst.

He also blamed neighboring Pakistan, saying that the international community has done too little to force Islamabad to shut down safe havens for terrorist groups inside its territory. The U.S. and Afghanistan also have routinely alleged that Pakistan harbors Taliban insurgents,

Pakistan denies the allegation and says some of the deadliest terrorist attacks on its territory have been plotted by the Islamic State affiliate based in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan.

Afghan security forces, aided by U.S. air support, have repeatedly struck ISIS redoubts in Nangarhar in recent months with some success, although the group still has been able to carry out attacks. Last week, it claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed 34 high school graduates, most of them Shiites, who were taking university entrance exams in Kabul. The ISIS affiliate is known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, the ancient name of an area that once spanned parts of Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.

In Islamabad, new Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the rocket attack.

“We are with the Afghan people and government to fully defeat this cowardly thinking,” Khan said in an Urdu language statement.

The Kabul neighborhood where the mortar rounds hit is one of the most secure in the capital, where embassies and government buildings are surrounded by concrete blast walls and coils of razor wire. Many streets near the U.S. Embassy are closed off, along with those near sensitive government and military installations.

“It is clear that those that carried out the attack are enemies of Afghanistan, enemies of Islam and enemies of peace,” said Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Police had noticed a suspicious vehicle and followed it to a mud-brick house near the sprawling Eid Gah mosque, where hundreds were praying during the Eid al-Adha holiday, said police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai. He told The Associated Press that the militants were believed to have fired the rockets from the house.

A helicopter gunship bombed the location, destroying the house and the vehicle.

After the explosions, witnesses reported sporadic shooting could be heard from the area, though it wasn’t clear who was firing. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for their safety.

O’Donnell said four attackers were killed and five surrendered. But Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said two attackers were killed.

Danish initially said that two Afghan security forces were wounded in a subsequent firefight, but later revised the number to six, including some civilians. The gunbattle also ignited a fire that burned down a nearby market, he said.

The U.N. special representative to Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, pleaded for peace on the Muslim holiday.

“To allow all Afghans to commemorate this auspicious celebration, I strongly urge the parties to the conflict to demonstrate good will, to respect this time of joy and tolerance and to refrain from resorting to violence,” he said.

On Monday, the Taliban ambushed a convoy of buses and abducted scores of people, including women and children. Afghan forces rescued nearly 150 of them.

Earlier this month, the insurgents launched a coordinated assault on Ghazni, a strategic provincial capital only 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Kabul. It took Afghan forces, aided by U.S. airstrikes and advisers, more than five days to drive them out in a battle that killed at least 100 security forces and 35 civilians, while about 200 militants were killed.

Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are fighting to overthrow the U.S.-backed government and impose a strict form of Islamic rule. But they are fiercely divided on leadership, tactics and ideology, and routinely clash with one another.

The U.S. and NATO officially ended their combat mission at the end of 2014 but have repeatedly come to the aid of Afghan forces in recent years to prevent the Taliban from advancing into major cities. The U.S. has long insisted on an “Afghan-led” peace process between the government and the Taliban but recently has indicated it would be open to direct talks with the insurgents.

The Taliban have sent delegations to Uzbekistan and Indonesia in recent weeks. On Tuesday, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said the Taliban have accepted an invitation to attend talks on Afghanistan in Moscow on Sept. 4.

All this has raised the Taliban’s diplomatic profile while carrying out the deadly attacks. The Taliban say they met with a U.S. diplomat in Qatar this month for what the group described as “preliminary” talks, and said it expected further negotiations.

Gannon reported from Islamabad. Associated Press photographer Rahmat Gul in Kabul, correspondent Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed.

The militants escaped with 21 captives following the battle in Kunduz province, and officials said tribal elders were trying to negotiate their release. Esmatullah Muradi, a spokesman for the governor in the northern province, said the Taliban have demanded the national identifications of the captives to determine their fate.

The identities of the captives have not been made public, but Mohammad Yusouf Ayubi, the head of the provincial council, said the insurgents likely targeted the three buses to try to abduct civil servants or members of the security forces.

The Taliban have been at war with the U.S.-backed Afghan government for nearly 17 years, and have stepped up attacks in recent years, seizing rural districts and carrying out major assaults against security forces and government compounds on an almost daily basis.

Earlier this month, the insurgents launched a coordinated assault on Ghazni, a strategic city only 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the capital, Kabul. They seized several neighborhoods, and it took security forces, aided by U.S. airstrikes and advisers, more than five days to drive them out. The battle for the city killed at least 100 security forces and 35 civilians, according to Afghan officials. The Defense Ministry said about 200 militants were killed.

In the latest attack, the Taliban stopped the buses in the Khan Abad district and ordered the passengers to come with them, according to Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry. Afghan forces responded quickly and were able to free 149 people and kill at least seven Taliban fighters, he said.

The passengers were all from Takhar and Badakhshan provinces in the north and were on their way to Kabul for this week’s Eid al-Adha holiday, according to Abdul Rahman Aqtash, police chief in Takhar province.

President proposes cease-fire

The ambush came a day after President Ashraf Ghani proposed a holiday cease-fire, saying it would be conditional on the Taliban halting attacks. He suggested extending the truce all the way to Nov. 20, when Muslims will celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.

A cease-fire during a major Muslim holiday in June brought a rare respite from the violence in most areas and saw Taliban fighters celebrate in the streets alongside security forces and civilians. But the Taliban rejected a government offer to extend that truce and soon resumed the attacks.

The Taliban have yet to respond formally to the latest truce offer. Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the insurgent group, said it was still discussing it and would announce its decision soon.

In a message released Saturday in honor of the upcoming holiday, Taliban leader Maulvi Haibatullah Akhunzadah said there would be no peace in Afghanistan as long as the “foreign occupation” continues and reiterated that the group will only negotiate directly with the United States, which it blames for the 17-year war.

The U.S. and NATO officially ended their combat mission at the end of 2014 but have repeatedly come to the aid of Afghan forces in recent years to prevent the Taliban from advancing into major cities. The U.S. has long insisted on an “Afghan-led” peace process between the government and the Taliban but recently has indicated it would be open to direct talks with the insurgents.

The Taliban have sent delegations to Uzbekistan and Indonesia in recent weeks, raising their diplomatic profile even while carrying out deadly attacks. The Taliban say they met with a U.S. diplomat in Qatar this month for what the group described as “preliminary” talks, and said it expected further negotiations.

In the meantime, the families of those captured Monday said they had little information about their fate.

“Unfortunately, some of my relatives are among the kidnapped passengers and we don’t have any information about their whereabouts,” Hamid Mubarez said. “We just ask the government not to wait, and to try hard to release the rest of the passengers.”

Mir Ahmed, who lives near where the attack took place, said the Taliban exercise effective control over the district.

“The government forces cannot go to the area at night,” he said. “Even during the day, they can only go in with full force and air support.”

At least 14 Afghan policemen were killed and 20 were wounded in the assault on Ghazni, the capital of a province with the same name, provincial police chief Farid Ahmad Mashal told The Associated Press.

The attack first began around 2 a.m. with intense gunbattles raging and fires burning in several shops in the city’s residential areas, he said. Fighting continued throughout the day and by mid-afternoon, the Taliban had set the local TV building on fire.

Taliban fighters also destroyed the telecommunications tower, located just outside the city, cutting all cellphone and landline access to Ghazni, according to Ali Akbar Kasemi, a lawmaker from the city.

Afghan troops on the ground called in airstrikes to try quash the offensive.

As evening approached, fighting focused mainly in three directions into the city, said Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry. The Taliban were using people’s homes to hide in, making it difficult for security forces to flush them out.

The city was in lockdown as residents reported sporadic bursts of gunfire. Taliban fighters had hunkered down in elevated positions inside Ghazni from where they were shooting, some residents said earlier, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear for their safety.

People were staying indoors and all shops in the city remained closed, they said. The highway from Kabul to Afghanistan’s southern provinces was also closed as it runs through Ghazni.

An Afghan military helicopter crash landed in the city during the daytime fighting, and four Afghan soldiers on board were injured, one critically, said Mohammad Radmanish, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.

The Taliban claimed they had downed the “enemy” helicopter in Ghazni but Radmanish said it was not immediately clear if the helicopter had been hit or crash landed due to other reasons.

Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said American forces and U.S. attack helicopters flew in overnight to assist Afghan troops in Ghazni.

“U.S. forces responded with close-air support and conducted one drone strike,” he said.

Later, as fighting continued throughout the day, O’Donnell said U.S. forces returned American attack helicopters and fighter jets that had been pulled out back to the area.

“It is a show of presence,” he said.

The brazen assault by the Taliban, who have been gaining more ground in their annual spring offensive and who have shrugged off the government’s latest offers of a cease-fire and negotiations, underscore the difficulties Afghan forces face in battling the relentless insurgency on their own in efforts to end the nearly 17-year war.

The blitz assault on Ghazni forced Afghan forces to conduct house-to-house searches, looking for Taliban fighters, which was slowing the operation down. An investigation was also underway to determine how the insurgents had managed to infiltrate so deep into the city, barely 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Baz Mohammad Hemat, the administrator of the Ghazni city hospital, said two wounded civilians were also brought in to the hospital. He was worried more wounded could be out there as the city was shut down and ambulances were not being sent out.

Mashal, the police chief, said there were more than 100 other casualties but he could not give a breakdown of the dead and wounded. Most of the casualties were Taliban, he said, and many of their bodies remained on the streets.

In one location, bodies of 39 Taliban fighters were recovered from under a bridge on the southern edge of the city, he said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed that parts of Ghazni had been seized and that Taliban fighters had killed scores of people. He also told the AP over the phone that Taliban anti-aircraft fire downed the Afghan army helicopter.

In Kabul, shopkeeper Azizullah, who goes only by one name like many Afghan men, said he was frantic with worry for his family in Ghazni after not hearing from them for the past three hours.

“I am so worried what the night will bring and what is going to happen to the city if the Taliban capture it,” he said.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a Taliban attack Thursday night in western Herat province left six policemen dead in the district of Obe, said the governor’s spokesman there, Gelani Farhad.

Mujahid did not comment on the Herat attack.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks across the country since NATO and the United States formally ended their combat mission in 2014, and have seized control of several districts. U.S. and NATO forces remain in Afghanistan mainly in a supporting and training role.

Separately from the Taliban, an Islamic State affiliate has also carried out dozens of deadly attacks in recent years, mainly targeting security forces and minority Shiites.

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Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon in Islamabad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.

In a telephone interview, Mohammad Radmanish said Fazlullah and two other insurgents were killed early Thursday morning, just hours before Afghanistan’s Taliban began a three-day cease fire to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. The three-day holiday follows the end of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan when devout adherents fast from sunrise to sunset.

However, Sakhi Mashwani, a Parliamentarian from Kunar province told the Associated Press that Fazlullah, along with five other insurgents, died when the strike slammed into the vehicle in which they were driving.

Mashwani said dozens of people, including Fazlullah’s brother, Moheen Dada, gathered Friday in the Ghaziabad district of Kunar province, to offer prayers for the dead Taliban leader.

A U.S. official said the U.S. believes that it is likely the strike killed Fazlullah, but efforts are ongoing to confirm his death. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss preliminary information.

According to a statement attributed to U.S. Forces-Afghanistan spokesman Lt. Col Martin O’Donnell, the U.S. carried out a “counterterrorism strike” Thursday in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan targeting “a senior leader of a designated terrorist organization.”

The statement did not say whether the strike had killed anyone and did not identify Fazlullah as the target. However, the statement did note that the drone attack did not violate a cease-fire announcement made June 7 by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The Taliban’s promise of a temporary truce came on Monday.

Radmanish said the drone attack took place in Marawara district, near the border.

Pakistan’s military refused to comment on the report of Fazlullah’s death saying any information would have to come from Washington. Yet Fazlullah’s death would be welcome news in Pakistan, where the government has repeatedly complained that Fazlullah and his Tehrik-e-Taliban had found safe havens across the border in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Kabul and Washington both complain that Pakistan has for years allowed Afghanistan’s Taliban free movement as well as medical treatment for battlefield wounds.

Still, the recent cease-fire announcement by Afghanistan’s Taliban is being at least partially credited to Pakistan, which some observers say has been pressing the leadership to accept President Ghani’s recent peace overtures.

In his Eid greeting this week, Afghan Taliban chief Haibatullah Akhunzada repeated the Taliban demand for direct talks with the United States before opening negotiations with the Afghan government. Until now, Washington has refused.

It was Yousafzai’s open call for girls’ education and criticism of the Taliban that infuriated Fazlullah. She was just 14 when she survived the assassination attempt in 2012. Her return to her hometown earlier this year seemed a particular triumph as it was also to open a school funded by a charity she established to promote girls education globally.

She has often said that Fazlullah’s attempts to silence her backfired and instead he amplified her voice around the world.

A ruthless leader, Fazlullah ordered the bombing and beheadings of dozens of opponents when his band of insurgents controlled Pakistan’s picturesque Swat Valley from 2007 until a massive military operation routed them in 2009.

In Yousafzai’s hometown of Mingora in the Swat Valley, residents welcomed reports of Fazlullah’s death with one resident saying many feared he would return one day to re-impose his violent rule.

“We witnessed the brutality of the Taliban in Swat when Fazlullah and his men were present here and we are happy to know that he has gone to hell,” said Idrees Khan, a member of a local elders peace committee. “People in Swat will feel safer after the killing of Fazlullah.”

His insurgent group, the Tehrik-e-Taliban, also took responsibility for the brutal attack on an Army Public School in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar in December 2014 when more than 140 children and their teachers were slaughtered.

Survivors of the attack told of insurgents roaming through the school shooting their victims, some as young as six years old, in the head.

Mohammad Akhtar, whose 12-year-old son Fahad Khan died in the 2014 massacre, said he had been waiting for confirmation of “terrorist Fazlullah’s” death.

“Thank God, he is dead,” he said after returning from a visit to his son’s grave.

Fazlullah rose to prominence through radio broadcasts in Swat demanding the imposition of Islamic law, earning him the nickname “Mullah Radio.” His radio talks also aired the grievances of many in the northwest against the government, such as its slow-moving justice system. He also reached out to women, promising to address their complaints about not getting a fair share of their inheritance.

His brutality often included public beheadings, often of police officers. His exact age is not known but he was believed to be in his late 30s.

Associated Press writers Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan; Sherin Zada in Swat, Kathy Gannon and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, contributed to this report.