The Taliban have been offered a power-sharing deal by Afghan government negotiators in Qatar in return for an end to fighting in the country, a government negotiating source told AFP on Thursday.
“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 said.
The Taliban took over the police headquarters in Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city, on Thursday and also seized another key district capital just 150 kilometres (95 miles) from capital Kabul.
An AFP correspondent filmed the Taliban flag flying over the police HQ in Herat, while the insurgents tweeted “the enemy fled… Dozens of military vehicles, weapons and ammunition fell into the hands of the Mujahideen”.
Further details of the Taliban’s presence in the city were not immediately available, but it has been under siege for weeks.
Herat — about 150 kilometres from the Iranian border — is home to veteran warlord Ismail Khan, who for weeks has been rallying his forces to make a stand against the Taliban.
Earlier, the interior ministry confirmed the fall of Ghazni, which lies along the major Kabul-Kandahar highway and serves as a gateway between the capital and militant strongholds in the south.
