Following peace talks between Al-Khalaqa and Pakistani officials that began last May in the Afghan capital of Kabul, Muhammad Khorasani, the Taliban’s spokesman in Pakistan, said “a lot of progress was made in the two days of the meeting.” done and extended accordingly. The Taliban leadership in Pakistan has declared a ceasefire until further notice, indicating that “other meetings will be held in the coming days to advance negotiations.”

So far, the ceasefire has been respected, as it was announced in early May.

The Pakistani Taliban carried out many bloody attacks in Pakistan from their inception in 2007 until 2014 before they were weakened by intense army operations and rebuilt over a year ago.

The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group from the Afghan Taliban, but they share the same ideology and have a long common history. Islamabad accuses Kabul of allowing Pakistan’s Taliban to prepare their strikes from Afghanistan, which the latter has repeatedly denied.