Afghan Taliban fighters.

AP Photo

The Taliban has decided to resume offensive operations against Afghan security forces, a Taliban spokesman told Agence France-Presse on Monday.

The decision followed a hopeful call from the Afghan president for a sustained cessation of hostilities and came as the Afghan government bickered over a prisoner-exchange provision in the conditional peace deal the Trump administration and the Taliban signed on Saturday.

The Afghan government has refused to release prisoners before negotiations, and the Taliban has said there can be no intra-Afghan dialogue without an exchange of prisoners.

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Just two days after the US and the Taliban signed an agreement intended to bring peace to Afghanistan and facilitate the withdrawal of US troops, the Taliban said it would resume offensive operations against the Afghan security forces, throwing a wrench into the peace deal.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, told Agence France-Presse on Monday that the seven-day reduction in violence that preceded the US-Taliban deal signed on Saturday in Doha, Qatar, "has ended now and our operations will continue as normal."

Per the agreement, "our mujahideen will not attack foreign forces but our operations will continue against the Kabul administration forces," the spokesman added.

The announcement that the militant group intends to continue its operations against the Afghan security forces came one day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he expected that the "reduction in violence will continue with a goal to reach a full cease-fire."

It was unclear on Monday what effect a failed truce would have on the US-Taliban agreement — already in question as the Afghan government and the Taliban bicker over the deal's prisoner-exchange provision.

The agreement signed on Saturday stated that "the United States is committed to start immediately to work with all relevant sides on a plan to expeditiously release combat and political prisoners as a confidence building measure with the coordination and approval of all relevant sides."

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The prisoner exchange, which would involve about 5,000 captured Taliban fighters and 1,000 Afghan security-forces prisoners, is scheduled for March 10, "the first day of intra-Afghan negotiations," the deal said.

The Afghan government "has not made any commitment to release 5K prisoners before the start of any potential negotiation," Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Afghan government, tweeted on Monday, adding that the Taliban first needed to address significant issues, including the need for a cease-fire.

"We hope that the Taliban will comply with their commitments made in the agreement with the U.S. signed on 29th Feb, which are cutting ties with al-Qaida, and other terrorists, and sit down with the Afghan government for a negotiation leading to a political settlement," he added.

The Taliban has said it will not take part in intra-Afghan talks until its captured fighters have been released.

"We are fully ready for the intra-Afghan talks, but we are waiting for the release of our 5,000 prisoners," Mujahid told Reuters on Monday. "If our 5,000 prisoners — 100 or 200 more or less does not matter — do not get released there will be no intra-Afghan talks."

He said of the end of the truce: "As we are receiving reports that people are enjoying the reduction in violence, we don't want to spoil their happiness, but it does not mean that we will not take our normal military activities back to the level that we were before."

Mujahid added that "it could be any time, it could be after an hour, tonight, tomorrow, or the day after."

As the US and the Taliban signed their agreement on Saturday, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper expressed cautious optimism, saying, "This is a hopeful moment, but it is only the beginning."

He added: "For the first time in many years, Afghanistan has a real path toward the future this country deserves. We look forward to the coming weeks and months with great optimism, as we advance these important efforts to finally achieve peace."

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