Taliban propose talks timeline as unrest soars

KABUL: The Taliban are prepared to hold peace talks with the Afghan government next month straight after the holiday of Eid-ul-Azha, the insurgents said Thursday, provided an ongoing prisoner swap has been completed.

The conditional offer marks the first occasion a talks timeline has been floated since warring parties blew past a March 10 deadline to begin negotiations. The development comes amid soaring violence that has threatened to derail US-backed efforts to bring Kabul and the Taliban to the negotiating table and seek an end to Afghanistan´s nearly 19-year-old war. The Taliban are “likely ... ready to begin intra-Afghan negotiations immediately after Eid in case the process of the release of the prisoners is completed,” the insurgents´ political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Twitter. He added that the Taliban were ready to release the remaining Afghan security force prisoners in their custody, as long as Kabul freed all insurgent inmates “as per our list already delivered” to authorities. There was no immediate response from the Kabul government.

AFGHAN AIR STRIKE: Even amid faltering progress on the prisoner exchange, violence levels have soared across Afghanistan. But this time it was an Afghan government air strike that has drawn the most scrutiny after officials said it killed eight civilians. The strike hit a group of people gathered in the western province of Herat to celebrate a Taliban commander´s release from prison.

“An air strike was carried out during the ceremony and civilians who participated were among those killed,” said Ali Ahmad Faqir Yar, the district governor in the area where the strike took place. On their website, Taliban said the insurgent had been released from Bagram prison outside Kabul.