KABUL (SW) – Spokesman for the Afghan government’s peace negotiating team in Doha has said the Taliban has floated the idea of a three-month ceasefire.
Nader Naderi, a member and spokesman for the Afghan government’s negotiating team for the intra-Afghan negotiations, told a news conference in Kabul on Thursday that the Taliban had proposed a three-month ceasefire.
According to Naderi, the Taliban have called for the release of 7,000 prisoners and the removal of their names from the UN blacklist in exchange for a three-month ceasefire.
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“A member of the Taliban delegation told us in Moscow and at the negotiating table that they had a plan for a three-month ceasefire, in which 7,000 prisoners should be released and their leaders’ names removed from the UN sanctions list”, he said.
Naderi said it was impossible to implement the group’s demands.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, confirmed the 90-day ceasefire plan and told Salam Watandar that the plan had been proposed by the group four months ago, but the Afghan government’s negotiating team did not respond to the request.
He said that in a bid to accelerate the process of intra-Afghan peace talks and improve the situation in Afghanistan, it is necessary to pay attention to the group’s plan. He cited the release of the remaining Taliban prisoners, their removal from the UN blacklist and the significant progress in the talks as part of the group’s demands for a three-month ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Naderi said that the past experience of freeing 5,000 Taliban prisoners was difficult for the Afghan government and people, but the war did not end and in return the situation worsened. He added that a joint effort is needed to reach a common agreement and end the war in the country.
According to Naderi, it is likely that a high-level delegation of the country’s politicians will travel to Doha, the capital of Qatar, in the next two days to remove the pretext for the Taliban to make the talks more serious.
According to him, the Taliban wanted political figures to be present alongside the current government delegation for the final discussion and decision.
ENDS
