The Taliban has reportedly rejected an offer by the Afghan government for a cease-fire, with militant commanders vowing to carry on their attacks after Taliban fighters in the north took as hostage nearly 200 people from a convoy of passenger buses in the northern province of Kunduz.
The cease-fire was meant to begin on August 20 and run for three months, conditioned upon Taliban participation.President Ashraf Ghani’s made the offer on Aug 19 to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhunzada rejected the offer saying that it would only help the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan, according to his spokesman.
“Our leadership feels that they’ll prolong their stay in Afghanistan if we announced a cease-fire now,” he said.
An official in Ghani’s office said the Afghan government would continue its military operations against the Taliban if the militants did not respect the cease-fire.  The Taliban decision does not come as a surprise though.  It had failed to honour a brief ceasefire agreement a few days ago even while calling for direct negotiations with Washington.
Rescue Operation
Security forces have since freed 149 people who had been taken hostage by the Taliban in the northern province of Kunduz. Their convoy was ambushed on aug 20, as they were traveling to Kabul for the holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry, said the militants continued to hold 21 others hostage. They were reportedly taken by the Taliban to an undisclosed location. None of them were government employees or members of Afghanistan’s security forces.
He said fighting in the area had halted while Afghan authorities used local elders as intermediaries in negotiations with the Taliban for the release of the remaining hostages.
In the rescue operation, at least seven Taliban fighters were killed before the militants fled the scene. “The Taliban had left behind the 149 hostages because the militants were unable to transport all of the group due to the rescue operation”, officials said.