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KABUL: A ceasefire is the Afghan government’s plan to start the talks with the Taliban, said presidential spokesman said on Sunday. Sediq Sediqqi said that reduction of violence does not have any accurate meaning in legal and military terms.
It is not practical, Sediqqi said, referring to the violence reduction that so far remained unabated. “When we talk about ceasefire, we mean truce like the one we had during Eid Days two years ago.”
Two years ago, the Taliban announced a three-day ceasefire over Ramadan Eid, but said operations against foreign forces will continue. It was the first time the group has agreed to a ceasefire at Eid since the US invasion in 2001.
The militants said foreign forces would be excluded from the ceasefire and that operations against them would continue. They also said they would defend themselves against any attack.
To put an end to the long years war in Afghanistan, the US and Taliban negotiating members have been engaged in talks in Doha of Qatar since last year. Some progress has been reported from the talks, and the Taliban expecting the signing of a peace agreement with the US in the near future
Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, expected that a date to sign a peace agreement with the United States will be fixed in the near future. “A date to sign the agreement has not been fixed. We expect to fix it soon,” he said in response to a question.
This is while Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said earlier in an interview with TASS that the US and the Taliban had agreed that Russia and several other countries would witness the signing of the agreement.
