(Bloomberg) -- The Taliban said it won't accept a nationwide cease-fire proposed by the U.S. government, hours after the militant group killed at least 14 Afghan soldiers.
“The Islamic Emirate has no intention of declaring a cease-fire,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said in a text message on Tuesday, using the militant group's title for Afghanistan. “The United States has asked for a reduction in the scale and intensity of violence and discussions being held by the Islamic Emirate are revolving solely around this specific issue.”
Read more: Trump Says Taliban Talks Resume in Surprise Afghanistan Trip
The Taliban's comment counters U.S. President Donald Trump's claim. “The Taliban wants to make a deal and we're meeting with them and we're saying it has to be a cease-fire, and they didn't want to do a cease-fire and now they want to do a cease-fire -- I believe it'll probably work out that way,” Trump had said last month.
The U.S. and Taliban are holding talks in Doha, Qatar, where the Taliban has a political office. A temporary cease-fire would offer a window in which the two sides could sign a peace accord and end the 18-year war in Afghanistan.
The Afghan government has set cease-fire as a precondition for holding any direct talks with the Taliban.
Taliban insurgents attacked a checkpoint in the northern Jawzjan province before dawn on Monday, killing 14 and wounding five soldiers. Two soldiers are missing, the province's spokesman Abdul Marouf Azar said by phone.
To contact the reporter on this story: Eltaf Najafizada in Kabul at enajafizada1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Jeanette Rodrigues, Karthikeyan Sundaram
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