Taliban offer three-month ceasefire in return for prisoner release

KABUL: An Afghan government negotiator on Thursday said the Taliban had offered a three-month ceasefire in exchange for the release of 7,000 insurgent prisoners, as the Taliban continues a sweeping offensive across the country.

"It is a big demand," Nader Nadery said, adding that the insurgents have also demanded the removal of the Taliban's leaders from a United Nations blacklist.

The announcement came as Pakistan guards used tear gas Thursday to disperse hundreds of people who tried to breach a border crossing into Afghanistan, officials said.

The frontier was closed a day earlier by Pakistan after the Taliban seized the Afghan side in Spin Boldak district, continuing sweeping gains made by the Taliban since foreign forces stepped up their withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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"An unruly mob of about 400 people tried to cross the gate forcefully. They threw stones, which forced us to use tear gas," said a security official at the southwest Chaman border on the Pakistan side, who asked not to be named.

He said around 1,500 people had gathered at the border, waiting to cross since Wednesday.

"We had to baton charge because people were getting unruly," said a second border official, who also did not want to be named.

Jumadad Khan, a senior government official in Chaman, said the situation was now "under control".

An Afghan Taliban source told AFP that hundreds of people had also gathered on the Afghan side, hoping to get into Pakistan.

"We are talking to Pakistani authorities. A formal meeting to open the border is scheduled for today, and hopefully, it will open in a day or two," he said.