Prospects rise for US-Taliban talks after Afghan ceasefire

KABUL/WASHINGTON: Prospects have risen for negotiations between Taliban and the United States after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called a ceasefire and allowed militants to roam into cities in a gamble to encourage peace talks.

The Taliban, ousted from power in 2001 by US-led troops, insist that any negotiations with what it calls the "puppet" Afghan government on a peace plan can begin only after talks with the United States about withdrawing foreign forces.

Analysts and Western diplomats said Ghani´s offer to hold unconditional peace talks had set the stage for US officials to open backchannel negotiations with the Taliban, despite Washington´s policy that peace talks be Afghan-led. "Ghani has done his bit," said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of Afghanistan Analysts Network, an independent think tank. "It is now for the US to cut through this blockade," he said, although that would be a departure from US policy that talks to end the 17-year-old war must be wholly Afghan-led. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared ready to tweak the policy when he welcomed Ghani´s 10-day extension of a ceasefire that is currently due to end on Wednesday.