Afghan Govt Offers Taliban Power-Sharing Deal to Halt Violence: Report

A US defence official earlier said the Taliban could possibly take over Kabul in 90 days.

Taliban fighters stand guard in Kunduz city, northern Afghanistan on Monday, 9 August. Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: PTI/Altered by The Quint)

The Afghanistan government has offered the Taliban a power-sharing deal in return for a halt in violence in the country, news agency AFP reported on Thursday, quoting a government negotiating source.

"Yes, the government has submitted a proposal to Qatar as mediator. The proposal allows the Taliban to share power in return for a halt in violence in the country," the source was quoted as saying.

The development comes a day after a United States defence official, citing US intelligence, said that the Taliban could possibly take over Afghanistan's capital Kabul in 90 days, after isolating it within the next 30 days, Reuters reported.

The official stated that the new assessment of how long Kabul could stand was a result of the Taliban's shocking speed in taking over one city after another.

However, he pointed out that this is “not a foregone conclusion," adding that the Afghan security forces could reverse the momentum by putting up more resistance.

The Taliban offensive comes ahead of the completion of scheduled withdrawal of the US forces from the country by the end of August.

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden had said that he doesn't regret his decision to withdraw the troops, and explained, “Look, we spent over a trillion dollars over twenty years, we trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces.”

Biden had asserted, “Afghan leaders have to come together… They've got to fight for themselves, fight for their nation.”

(With inputs from AFP and Reuters.)