‘Taliban will present written peace plan next month’

KABUL: The Taliban plan to present a written peace proposal to the Afghan government side as soon as next month, a spokesman for the Islamist militants said even as they make major territorial gains in the breach left by departing foreign forces.

While the transfer of Bagram Air Base to the Afghan army added momentum to a Taliban drive to seize control over new districts, Taliban leaders renewed the long stalled talks with Afghan government envoys in Qatar's capital Doha last week.

"The peace talks and process will be accelerated in the coming days...and they are expected to enter an important stage, naturally it will be about peace plans," Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told a British wire service on Monday.

"Possibly it will take a month to reach that stage when both sides will share their written peace plan," he said, adding that the latest round of talks were at a critical juncture. "Although we (Taliban) have the upper hand on the battlefield, we are very serious about talks and dialogue."

Western security officials said insurgent forces have captured more than 100 districts but the Taliban say they have control of more than 200 districts in 34 provinces comprising over half the Central Asian country.

Diplomats overseeing the intra-Afghan talks have repeatedly sought Pakistan’s help to convince Taliban leaders to offer a written peace plan even. Najia Anwari, spokeswoman for Afghanistan’s Ministry for Peace Affairs, confirmed that intra-Afghan talks had resumed and said its representatives were “very happy” that Taliban envoys were rejecting the process outright.

“It is difficult to anticipate that the Taliban will provide us with their written document of a peace plan in a month but let’s be positive. We hope they present (it) so as to understand what they want,” said Anwari.