The banned group, also known as the TTP, extended the ceasefire indefinitely when the previous truce between the two sides expired on May 30.
The Pakistani Taliban said they had indefinitely extended a ceasefire with the government in Islamabad, after two days of talks with a delegation of Pakistani tribal elders chaired by the Afghan Taliban.
According to Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or banned TTP group, the decision was made on Thursday after “significant progress” was made in talks with the group of 50 elders.
He gave no details and there was no immediate confirmation from the Pakistani government of the ceasefire extension.
The Pakistani Taliban is a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who Power is confiscated in their country last August when US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The TTP has waged an armed insurgency in Pakistan for the past 14 years, fighting for stricter enforcement of Islamic law in the country, the release of its members under government arrest, and the reduction of Pakistani military presence in the former tribal areas of the country. .
Khurasani, a spokesman for the TTP, said talks in Kabul would continue in the coming days. No statement from the Afghan Taliban, who previously only said they provided Neutral land for talks.
The Afghan Taliban are also encouraging the new government in Pakistan to reach a peace agreement with the Pakistani Taliban.
The earlier armistice between the two sides expires on May 30. To date, no ceasefire has paved the way for a more lasting peace.
The Pakistani Taliban have for years used Afghanistan’s rugged border areas as a refuge and staged cross-border attacks into Pakistan and are now emboldened by the Afghan Taliban’s return to power.
The group wants Pakistani government forces to withdraw from former tribal areas in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, release all TTP fighters in government custody, and drop all legal cases against them. back them.
On the other hand, the government in Islamabad wants the Pakistani Taliban to disband and have the militants accept Pakistan’s constitution and sever its alleged ties with ISIL (ISIS), another armed group with branches in the region that is fighting. operates in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Pakistani tribal elders are sent to Kabul as mediators because under Pakistan’s constitution the government cannot negotiate – at least not directly – with those waging an insurgency against it.
