Taliban offer three-month ceasefire in return for prisoner release

The Taliban have offered a three-month ceasefire in exchange for the release of thousands of insurgent prisoners, a top Afghan government negotiator said Thursday, as Pakistan confirmed the group had seized control of a key border crossing.

Nader Nadery, the spokesman for the government’s negotiating team in Doha where peace talks with the Taliban have been stalled for months, said it was a “big demand”.

“The Taliban offered a plan for a three-month ceasefire, but in exchange they have asked for the release of 7,000 of their prisoners and the removal of their leaders from the UN blacklist,” he told reporters in Kabul.

A spokesman for the Taliban said he was only aware of the suggestion of a ceasefire over the forthcoming Eid al-Adha holiday.

The Taliban are waging a relentless campaign across Afghanistan with the United States and NATO troops almost all but gone from the country, leaving Afghan forces facing crisis.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday that the Afghan side of the Chaman border crossing was in the hands of the Taliban.

The border was closed Wednesday by Pakistan officials after the Taliban seized Spin Boldak on the other side and raised insurgent flags above the town.

“An unruly mob of about 400 people tried to cross the gate forcefully. They threw stones, which forced us to use tear gas,” said a security official on the Pakistan side, who asked not to be named, adding that the situation was later brought “under control”.

He said around 1,500 people had gathered at the border Wednesday waiting to cross.

An Afghan Taliban source told AFP that hundreds of people had also gathered on the Afghan side, hoping to travel in the other direction.

“We are talking to Pakistani authorities. A formal meeting to open the border is scheduled for today, and hopefully, it will open in a day or two,” he said.

Later on Thursday, a Pakistani border official told AFP that the border would open Friday for pedestrians from both sides.