Afghanistan announces Muslim Eid holiday ceasefire with Taliban

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday announced a ceasefire with Taliban insurgents from Monday to mark the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, despite heavy fighting seen over recent days in the central city of Ghazni.

"The conditional ceasefire will start tomorrow and it will continue as long as the Taliban preserves and respects it," he said in an Afghan independence day ceremony.

“We call on the leadership of the Taliban to welcome the wishes of Afghans for a long-lasting and real peace,” he said.

A senior official in Ghani’s office said the “conditional” ceasefire would run for three months.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during a news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, June 30, 2018. /VCG Photo

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that the US welcomes the announcement by the Afghan government of a ceasefire, and urged the Taliban forces to participate.

Pompeo noted that Washington remains ready to "support, facilitate, and participate" in direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

It was not immediately clear whether the Taliban had accepted Ghani's call for a truce during Eid, the annual Islamic feast of sacrifice.

This month the Taliban fought an intense battle with Afghan forces to control the strategically important city of Ghazni.

At least 150 soldiers and 95 civilians were killed in a five-day siege, which eased last week when Afghan soldiers backed by US forces pushed back the heavily armed rebels.

The Taliban said in a statement that they had control over half of Afghanistan.

Blasts, suicide attacks and clashes between hardline Islamic militants and Afghan forces killed over 1,600 civilians in the first six months of the year, the highest number in the past decade, the United Nations said in a statement on Sunday.

Ghani’s ceasefire announcement was limited to the Taliban and excluded other militant groups such as ISIL.

Source(s): Reuters