“I strongly condemn recent attacks on a hospital in Kabul and Nangarhar province which killed a number of innocent people including women and children,” Ghani said Tuesday.

“In order to provide security for public places and to thwart attacks and threats from the Taliban and other terrorist groups, I am ordering Afghan security forces to switch from an active defense mode to an offensive one and to start their operations against the enemies,” Ghani said in a televised speech.
In response to Ghani’s comments, the Pentagon said it will defend the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) against the Taliban if necessary.
His comments came after a violent day in which gunmen killed 16 people at a maternity clinic in Kabul and more than 20 died in a suicide bomb attack at a funeral in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban have denied they were involved in the attacks.