Taliban ruling council agrees to ceasefire in Afghanistan

Taliban negotiators.
(Image credit: Karim Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images)

The Taliban's ruling council agreed Sunday to a brief ceasefire in Afghanistan, potentially leading to a peace deal with the United States.

The council has not yet decided when the ceasefire will start, officials from the militant group told The Associated Press, but it is expected to last for 10 days. The U.S. has said the only way it will reach a peace agreement with the Taliban is if there is a ceasefire. Under a peace deal, the U.S. would agree to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, AP reports; there are now about 12,000 troops in the country.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.