The Taliban carried out more than a dozen attacks on Afghan army bases, officials said Tuesday, hours after ending a partial truce and throwing into doubt peace talks between Kabul and the insurgents.
The intra-Afghan negotiations are due to begin March 10 according to a US-Taliban deal signed in Doha on Saturday, but a dispute over a prisoner swap has raised questions about whether they will go ahead.
The agreement includes a commitment for the Taliban to release up to 1,000 prisoners and for the Afghan government to free around 5,000 insurgent captives something the militants have cited as a prerequisite for talks but which President Ashraf Ghani has refused to do before negotiations start.
The row has highlighted the tough road ahead, with the Taliban's decision to end a partial truce Monday complicating matters further.
A defence ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP of overnight attacks on government forces in 13 of the country's 34 provinces.
Two soldiers were killed in one of the attacks that happened in southern Kandahar province, a government statement said.
An attack in Logar province near Kabul which was not included in the defence ministry official's tally killed five security forces, the provincial governor's spokesman Didar Lawang told AFP.
The halt to the limited truce, which began on February 22, ends what was a welcome reprieve for ordinary Afghans who have born the brunt of the deadly violence.
But experts said the move was unsurprising as both sides seek to exploit whatever leverage they hold to force the other's hand.
