ISLAMABAD: American negotiators have urged the Taliban to agree to a 10-day cease-fire amid talks in Qatar, saying the peace process could be stopped again if the militant group does not comply.
Taliban sources, who have knowledge of the developments, told Arab News the US side gave the warning as the talks resumed last week, after a three-month suspension by President Donald Trump.
US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad tweeted on Dec. 13 that he has taken a “brief pause” for the Taliban to consult their leadership about his demand for a reduction in violence.
He said he had expressed “outrage” over a Taliban attack on Bagram air base in Kabul on Dec. 11, which killed two and wounded dozens of civilians, asking the Taliban “to show they are willing and able to respond to Afghan desire for peace.”
According to Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen, the militant group had sought a few days’ break to hold consultations. He said Taliban negotiators had raised the issue of night raids, drone strikes and aerial bombings by the US-led foreign forces when the US bemoaned the Bagram attack.
A Taliban official said Americans have called for a 10-day cease-fire and “threatened to call off talks.”
“The US side has floated the idea to sign a peace agreement during the cease-fire,” the official said while requesting not to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media.
“They (Taliban negotiators in Qatar) have now prepared recommendations for the leadership, which will take a final decision. The leaders will decide whether or not to accept the cease-fire proposal,” he said, adding that “Americans want ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the proposal and they say there will be no talks unless the cease-fire is declared.”
Khalilzad returned to Qatar after his meetings with Pakistani officials last week weekend, but the peace talks have yet to resume.
“Status hasn’t changed,” an American source familiar with the US-Taliban talks in Doha told Arab News on Monday.
Shaheen in an earlier interview with Arab News said the Taliban would declare a cease-fire with the US and its NATO allies after the peace agreement is signed.
The Taliban and the US had finalized the peace agreement in August at the conclusion of the ninth round of talks, but the signing was blocked when Trump put a pause on the process, following an attack in Kabul which killed 12 people, including an American soldier.
As the US and Taliban are accusing each other of violence and halting the talks, senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham met Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad on Monday to discuss the Afghan conflict.
Graham chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and is a senior member of the Armed Services, Appropriations and Budget Committees of the US Senate.
Khan assured the US senator Pakistan would continue to play its facilitating role in the Afghan peace and reconciliation process, while emphasizing the value of peace and stability in Afghanistan for Pakistan’s development, a statement by the PM Office said.
This was Graham’s second visit to Pakistan in 2019.
US demands Taliban declare 10-day cease-fire to save peace talks
https://arab.news/zvcav
US demands Taliban declare 10-day cease-fire to save peace talks
- US warns talks could be called off if there is no cease-fire, Taliban sources say
- Taliban raise the issue of night raids, drone strikes and aerial bombings by US-led forces
Pakistan says it is targeting militant infrastructure in Afghanistan as Kabul threatens to hit Islamabad
- Ata Tarar says Pakistan is carrying out ‘precise intelligence-based operations’ to avoid civilian casualties
- Afghan defense minister says the underlying dispute between the two sides is over the ‘Durand Line’ border
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Saturday it was conducting intelligence-based operations against militant infrastructure inside Afghanistan while attempting to avoid civilian casualties, as a senior Afghan Taliban official warned Kabul could retaliate by targeting Islamabad if Pakistani forces struck the Afghan capital.
The escalating rhetoric comes as cross-border fighting between the two neighbors intensifies following clashes that began last month when Afghan forces launched attacks on Pakistani military installations along the frontier. Kabul said the assault was retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes targeting what Islamabad called militant camps inside Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s defense minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said last week the situation had effectively become “open war” between the two countries.
“Pakistan is only targeting terrorist infrastructures and support system with precise intelligence based operations ensuring no collateral damage takes place,” Pakistan’s Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said in a statement.
He challenged the recent claims made by an Afghan defense ministry spokesperson earlier this week who said his country was making significant battlefield gains against Pakistan including the killing of 109 soldiers and the capture or destruction of 14 military posts in large scale attacks.
“These so called attacks by Afghan Taliban in coordination with FAK [Fitna Al Khawarij] Terrorists once again confirm the nexus of Afghan Taliban regime and multiple terrorist organizations operating from within their territory,” Tarar continued. “All such attempts are responded to, immediately and effectively with severe retributive punishment that is swift, precise and effective.”
“The imaginary numbers being floated by Afghan Taliban regime are however not worth any serious comment,” he added.
Tarar said Pakistan’s military campaign — described as Operation Ghazb Lil Haq — had inflicted heavy losses on Afghan Taliban forces.
According to figures shared by the minister, 527 Taliban fighters had been killed and more than 755 injured since the clashes began, while 237 check posts were destroyed and 38 captured and destroyed. He said 205 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery guns were destroyed and 62 locations across Afghanistan had been targeted by air strikes.
Arab News could not independently verify the claims made by either side.
CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
Earlier this week, the United Nations raised concern over the toll of the escalating conflict on civilians.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday that 56 Afghan civilians — nearly half of them children — had been killed since hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan intensified.
However, Tarar questioned the UN findings, saying its assertions appeared to rely heavily on information provided by Taliban authorities and did not adequately reflect independently verified intelligence.
“Pakistan categorically reiterates that all counter-terrorism operations conducted by its security forces are carried out with the highest degree of precision, professionalism, and responsibility,” he said.
Islamabad has long accused the Taliban government of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan soil, a charge Kabul denies.
“Operations are meticulously planned so that civilian areas remain completely safe,” the minister said. “The locations targeted are remote terrorist hideouts and facilities far removed from populated zones, including sensitive areas such as Kabul’s Green Zone.”
AFGHAN WARNING
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Defense Minister Mullah Yaqoob issued a warning to Pakistan in remarks circulated by Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews.
“If Kabul lacks peace, there will be no peace in Islamabad. If Kabul is attacked, Islamabad will be attacked,” Yaqoob said in a promotional clip of an interview shared on social media.
Yaqoob rejected Pakistan’s justification that the presence of the TTP in Afghanistan warranted military action and suggested the underlying dispute was over the contested “Durand Line” border between the two countries.
So far, there has been no official response from Pakistan to Yaqoob’s remarks.
