KABUL – Senior Taliban officials have been secretly negotiating with Afghanofficials on a possible ceasefire, the Pentagon has said, even as US forceskilled over 50 Taliban leaders in a series of strikes.
“A lot of the diplomatic activity and dialogue is occurring off the stage,and it’s occurring at multiple levels,” General John Nicholson said in ateleconference with reporters at the Pentagon.
He would not identify the figures involved in the negotiations, except tosay that they included mid- and senior-level Taliban officials.
“I should point out they met in secret. This is how they were able toadvance the talks,” he said, adding that the success of the effort dependsin part on the “confidentiality of the process.”
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in late February proposed peace talks withthe Taliban, saying they could be recognized as a political party if theyaccepted a ceasefire and recognized the country’s 2004 constitution.
The Taliban have not officially responded, but deadly attacks haveproliferated since then, particularly in Kabul, which has become the mostdangerous place in the country for civilians.
Yesterday, militants launched a gun and bomb attack on the InteriorMinistry in Kabul, killing a policeman in another demonstration of theirability to strike at the heart of the Afghan capital.
The Taliban also claimed responsibility for a predawn attack on a policestation in the capital of Logar province, about 70 kilometers (45 miles)southeast of Kabul.
Six police officers were killed and eight civilians were wounded,provincial police spokesman Shapoor Ahmadzai said.
But Nicholson, who has sought to drive the Taliban to the negotiating tableby bringing to bear increased US military pressure, maintained thatviolence and progress can coexist.
He likened the situation in Afghanistan to that of Colombia where thefighting continued up until the FARC guerrilla group and the governmentsigned a peace accord in 2016.
In a statement yesterday, the US command in Afghanistan said the strikesagainst those behind a recent attack in the Helmand provincial capital ofFarah resulted in “more than 50 casualties.” After pushing out fighters inFarah, Afghan and US forces continued to pursue them, Nicholson toldreporters at the Pentagon via video link.
Under surveillance by the Marines, the Taliban fighters returned to theirHelmand stronghold, a center for poppy cultivation.On May 24, they werespotted in a known Taliban command center in Musa Qala.
Among the dead was the number two Taliban leader in Helmand, Abdul Manan,and several district governors and local leaders in Kandahar, Kunduz,Herat, Farah, Uruzgan and Helmand provinces.