Afghanistan's Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah on Wednesday said despite the National Unity Government’s (NUG) repeated calls for peace, the Taliban continues to reject the offer.



Addressing an event to mark World Press Freedom Day, Abdullah said: “In fact the Taliban is a criminal group and despite NUG’s repeated demands for peace and negotiation, they refuse, and with the continuation of the crimes, it became possible for other terrorist groups to be placed in Afghanistan and to be able to commit such crimes,” said Abdullah.



The Afghan government made a peace offer, without preconditions, to the Taliban early this year. However, the Taliban has still not responded to the offer.



On Wednesday, Abdullah said terrorist groups were targeting the Afghan people under different names.



“Terrorist groups, all of them, Taliban, Al-Qaeda, under different names, have repeated the crimes in the past and today, one group will take responsibility for committing crimes against the people of Afghanistan,” Abdullah added.



On Monday Daesh militants carried out two suicide bombings in Kabul, where 29 people including nine journalists were killed and nearly 50 others wounded.



The Afghanistan Federation of Journalists (AFJ) and the country’s media issued a joint statement condemning Monday’s explosions – stating the terrorist attack was a war crime.



“This terrorist attack is a war crime and an organized attack on the Afghan media,” the statement read.



“Despite today's attack and other threats against journalists, the Afghan media is committed to providing information.



“The attack in the heart of Kabul and in the Green Zone indicates a serious lack of security by the government.



“In a joint letter, the Afghan media has called on the International Court of Justice and the UN Security Council to investigate the incident.



“The media, which has lost colleagues and has colleagues that are wounded, is committed to supporting the families of those killed and wounded in the incident. We ask government to help the families of the victims.



April 30 will be remembered as the deadliest day in Afghan media history and the industry will mark the day in future in honor of its fallen colleagues, read the statement.

Nine journalists and cameramen, including TOLOnews cameraman Yar Mohammad Tokhi, were killed and wounded in Monday’s bombing, which happened after first responders and journalists arrived at the scene of an earlier explosion.



Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Abdullah referred to the AFJ’s statement and said that all their suggestions and demands are accepted and supported by the NUG.



“All the recommendations are accepted by the leadership of the national unity government and you will see practical action,” said Abdullah.



In addition, Abdullah said that when the Taliban launched their spring operations four days ago, there were probably 400 threats, but only 80 threats were launched and other Taliban’s threats were foiled.



In conclusion, Abdullah asked the people of Afghanistan to stand united against the enemies of the country.



“If the people of Afghanistan all together do not convey united messages to the enemies of Afghanistan and do not condemn the enemy, then the enemy will be allowed to become open to crime. And unfortunately, we did not see this happen on a national level,”



Monday’s attack, claimed by Daesh, took place in a heavily-fortified area of the city and comes just nine days after the group claimed credit for a suicide bombing on an election-related facility in the capital killing at least 60 people and wounded scores others.