Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's leader indicated that the group are unlikely to call ceasefire any time soon, though the 'doors of dialogue' with US remain open. The message comes in right after a sixth round of US-led talks ended last month in Qatar with little sign of progress and amid continued bloodshed across Afghanistan.
"The doors of dialogue and negotiations have been kept open and at this very moment, the (Taliban) negotiation team... is engaged in negotiations with the American side," Akhundzada said in a message ahead of the upcoming festival of Eid, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Early last month, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had proposed a nationwide ceasefire, but the Taliban rejected the offer.
The Taliban, last year observed a three-day ceasefire over Eid. Several Afghans, exhausted by decades of war and violence, had pinned their hopes on another truce this year.
But Akhundzada said: "No one should expect us to pour cold water on the heated battlefronts of jihad or forget our 40-year sacrifices before reaching our objectives."
A group of Afghan protestors in sign of their frustration with the unending conflict have restarted a peace march that last year saw them walking across Afghanistan and into the capital Kabul.
Bismillah Watandost, a spokesman for the People's Peace Movement, said that about 30 people had started the walk late Thursday, heading from Lashkar Gah to Musa Qala in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold. The group will walks 150 miles he said and added, "This is our first peace march during the holy month of Ramadan, all of us are fasting." He said the group aims to express to the Taliban the pain and suffering of Afghans.
"Even if we are intimidated with death threats, we won't care about it," Watandost said.
On Friday, former president Hamid Karzai mistakenly declared the Taliban had announced a new ceasefire after hearing an old message the insurgents had put out last year.
This unleashed a brief spell of confusion across the country, with media outlets firing off tweets and breaking news reports announcing the alleged truce.
