‘Taliban’ Sets Condition for Three-Month Ceasefire
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As foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan, the Taliban offered a three-month ceasefire in exchange for the release of 7,000 prisoners from the Afghan government prisons.
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‘Taliban’s condition is the release of 7,000 prisoners.
On Thursday, Nader Nadery, an Afghan government negotiator participating in the peace talks between Afghanistan and the Taliban, said that the Taliban offered a three-month ceasefire in exchange for the release of 7,000 prisoners.
"It is a big demand," Nadery told the press.
Nadery also indicated that "the insurgents have also demanded the removal of the Taliban's leaders from a United Nations blacklist."
The Taliban's announcement came after the Pakistan border guards used tear gas against hundreds of people who tried to breach a border crossing into Afghanistan, in an attempt to disperse the crowd, local officials said.
"An unruly mob of about 400 people tried to cross the gate forcefully. They threw stones, which forced us to use tear gas," a security official at the Chaman border crossing on the Pakistan side, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP.
"We had to baton charge because people were getting unruly," said another official who also asked to remain unnamed.
The US Central Command announced Tuesday that the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan is 95% complete.
The United States had previously pledged that all of its forces would be out of Afghanistan by the end of August.
Previously, the Taliban's representative in Qatar, Mohammad Naeem, said that the movement seeks a good relationship with all countries, including the United States.
Naeem's statement comes as clashes are escalating in Afghanistan between the Taliban and the Afghan army, as the movement is now in control of large areas of the borders throughout the country. This happens amid UN warnings of the escalating violence and its effect on the number of Afghan immigrants.
