Two informed sources have told Reuters that the Afghan Taliban will implement a ten-day ceasefire, reduce attacks on Afghan forces, and hold talks with government officials if they reach an agreement with US negotiators in the ongoing peace talks in Doha.
The movement announced yesterday that one of its senior officials had met American officials in the Qatari capital to discuss signing a peace agreement, and the Al-Jazeera correspondent in Afghanistan stated that the matter related to Mullah Abdul Ghani Brader, the movement’s political affairs deputy, who met in Doha with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. A source on the island also said that the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General Skat Miller, joined Khalilzad.
"The United States wanted to declare a ceasefire during the peace talks, which we rejected ... The (movement) Shura Council agreed to a ceasefire on the day the peace agreement was signed," a senior Taliban commander said.
He added that once a ceasefire agreement is reached, the Taliban and the Afghan government can hold a direct meeting in Germany. The movement had previously refused to enter into talks with the government.
Another source close to the talks confirmed the statements.
A spokesman for the Taliban political office, Suhail Shaheen, said that negotiators from the Taliban and the United States met on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss signing a peace agreement.
He said on Twitter on Friday morning that the talks between the two sides had been "beneficial" and would last for a few days.
No date has been set for the signing of the agreement, but the Taliban commander said he expected it to be "very soon".
On the other hand, after his meeting with senior American officials in Washington, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that his country had worked to facilitate the dialogue and had done its part to help bring the negotiations to this stage.
Qureshi pointed out that the Taliban endeavors in the end to ensure the withdrawal of the American forces - numbering about 13,000 - in any agreement, but he stressed that his country fears the aggravation of the unrest in its neighbor Afghanistan, and does not want a rapid withdrawal.
"The Taliban want the withdrawal of foreign forces; what we are saying is, yes, they should withdraw, but it should be a responsible withdrawal," he said.
It is noteworthy that US President Donald Trump canceled intermittent talks with the Taliban last September after a US soldier was killed in an attack carried out by the movement.
The talks resumed after Trump visited US forces in Afghanistan last November, but stopped again the following month after the group carried out a suicide attack on a US base outside Kabul, killing two civilians.