Ex-Afghan president calls for resumption of peace talks

KABUL, Afghanistan

Amid escalating violence across Afghanistan, the country's former President Hamid Karzai on Thursday called on the U.S. to resume peace talks with the Taliban.

Addressing a news conference in the capital Kabul, Karzai also vehemently criticized the government forces as well as the Taliban for killing fellow Afghans.

“We must be ashamed of celebrating killing of each other. The Taliban must be ashamed of shooting and killing common people and our government and president should be ashamed of announcing the killing of common Afghans in the name of the Taliban,” he said.

The former president also called on the Taliban to engage in talks with the Afghan government.

Afghanistan has been marred by a string of deadly Taliban-claimed attacks following the collapse of their peace talks with the U.S. as they continue to reject acknowledging and talking to the Afghan government.