Taliban ruling council agrees to temporary ceasefire

KABUL — The Taliban announced Sunday they have agreed to a temporary ceasefire nationwide in a move that provides a window during which a peace agreement with the United States may be signed.

A peace deal would allow Washington to bring home its troops from Afghanistan and end its 18year military engagement, America’s longest. The U.S. wants any deal to include a promise from the Taliban that Afghanistan would not used as a base by terrorist groups. The U.S. currently has an estimated 12,000 troops in Afghanistan.

The Taliban chief must approve the pact, which is expected. The duration of the ceasefire was not specified but a 10day span has been suggested.

Members of the Taliban negotiating team met for a week with the ruling council before they agreed on the brief cease fire. The negotiating team returned on Sunday to Qatar where they maintain their political office.

The Taliban officials familiar with the negotiations spoke on condition of anonymity.

A key pillar of the agreement, which the U.S. and Taliban have been hammering out for more than a year, is direct negotiations between Afghans on both sides of the conflict.

Those intraAfghan negotiations are expected to be held within two weeks of the signing of a U.S.Taliban peace deal. They will likely decide what a postwar Afghanistan will look like, and what role the Taliban will play. The negotiations would cover a wide range of subjects, such as the rights of women, free speech and the fate of the the tens of thousands of Taliban fighters, as well as the heavily armed militias belonging to Afghanistan’s warlords who have amassed wealth and power since the Taliban’s ouster.

The temporary ceasefire had been proposed by U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad during the last round of talks.

The announcement came only a day after a Taliban attack in northern Afghanistan killed at least 17 local militiamen. The attack apparently targeted a local militia commander who escaped unharmed, said Jawad Hajri, a spokesman for the governor of Takhar province, where the attack took place late Saturday.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack.