(Bloomberg) -- The Taliban has offered a three-month ceasefire in return for the release of 7,000 prisoners and the removal of the group's leaders from United Nations sanctions and blacklists, an Afghan negotiator said Thursday.
Describing the Taliban's demands as “huge,” Nader Nadery, a member of Afghanistan's negotiating team told reporters in Kabul. “The experience we faced after the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners was worse, as the war didn't stop but instead intensified and the killings of people have increased.” The Taliban has not responded to requests for comment
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The announcement comes as a high-level Afghan delegation that includes the chairman of the National Reconciliation Council, Abdullah Abullah, former President Hamid Karzai and the warlord leader and former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar will soon head to Doha for crucial talks with the Taliban leaders.
U.S. forces handed over Bagram Air Base, their biggest facility, two weeks ago in a milestone symbolizing the effective departure of combat forces from Afghanistan after 20 years, ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden Administration's Sept. 11 deadline.
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