The
Taliban have given the U.S. envoy their offer for a temporary cease-fire in
Afghanistan that would last between seven and 10 days, Taliban officials familiar with the negotiations said Thursday. The offer is seen as an opportunity to open a window to an eventual peace deal that would allow the
United States to bring home its estimated 13,000 troops and end the 18-year war in Afghanistan, America's longest conflict. The cease-fire offer was handed to Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington's envoy for talks with the insurgents, late Wednesday in Qatar, a Gulf Arab country where the Taliban maintain a political office.