Afghanistan

Fifteen diplomatic missions and the NATO representative in Kabul have joined hands to urge the Taliban to halt military offensives across Afghanistan, just hours after a peace meeting in Doha failed to agree on a ceasefire.

An Afghan government negotiator on Thursday said the Taliban had offered a three-month ceasefire in exchange for the release of 7,000 insurgent prisoners, as the militant group continues a sweeping offensive across the country.

The worsening security situation across Afghanistan in the wake of foreign troop withdrawal and Taliban advances, has forced an estimated 270,000 from their homes since January, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported on Tuesday, bringing the total internally displaced to more than 3.5 million.

The delegates also agreed to hold talks in a "cordial atmosphere" and to hold the next meeting soon.

Taliban fighters have launched an assault on the provincial capital of Qala-e-Naw, their first bid to seize a large city since the US started withdrawing its troops. Meanwhile, Iran hosted surprise peace talks in Tehran.

The withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan is more than 90 percent completed, the Pentagon’s Central Command announced Tuesday.

Pakistan’s stakes in Afghanistan are rising as U.S. and NATO troops prepare to leave. All-out war after the withdrawal could push more Afghan refugees across the border and strengthen Pakistani militants. Islamabad should ratchet up pressure on the Taliban to engage in peace talks.

Germany has finished withdrawing its last contingent of around 570 soldiers from Afghanistan as the security situation deteriorates. The move marks the end of a nearly 20-year mission.

Earlier this week, the insurgents seized Afghanistan's main border crossing with Tajikistan, and pressed an offensive on the northern cities of Kunduz and Mazar-e Sharif. The U.S. military says it has already withdrawn more than half of its 3,500 troops from the region and its equipment.

With all the major indicators for Afghanistan’s security and development looking “negative or stagnant” as international troops withdraw, the threats that lie ahead cannot be overstated, the top UN official in the country (Deborah Lyons) told the Security Council on Tuesday.