US-Taliban agreement to cut violence will start in next 5 days, Afghan minister says

An agreement between the Taliban and US forces to reduce violence will come into force within the next five days, Afghanistan’s acting Interior Minister Masoud Andarabi said on Tuesday.

The ‘reduction in violence’ period “will begin in the next five days, which will be based on the negotiations between the US and the Taliban,” he told a gathering of provincial police commanders in Kabul.

Last week, a senior US administration official said negotiations with Taliban representatives in Qatar had resulted in an agreement in principle for a week-long reduction of violence, but the seven-day period had not yet commenced, Reuters reported.