Three-day ceasefire in Afghanistan

A THREE-DAY ceasefire agreed to by the warring Taliban and Afghan government came into force yesterday as the country celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr after weeks of deadly violence.

Proposed by the militants and approved by President Ashraf Ghani, the truce offered respite for Afghans as they mark the Muslim festival with friends and family.

Violence has intensified in the country since the US missed a May 1 deadline, agreed with by the Taliban last year, to withdraw all of its troops.

If the ceasefire holds, it will be only the fourth pause in fighting in nearly 20 years of conflict. Ghani used his annual Eid address to urge the Taliban to agree to a lasting truce now that international troops were leaving. “We don’t want you to surrender, but we want you to accept a political solution. War is not a solution,” he said.

Tens of thousands of Afghans have been killed and millions have been displaced by the conflict, which has seen a resurgent Taliban take hold of

large swathes of the country.

The militants and the Afghan government launched peace talks in September last year, but progress has stalled despite international efforts to jump-start the negotiations.

Ceasefires in the past have largely held, in what is widely thought to be an exercise by the Taliban leadership to prove it has firm control over the myriad factions across the country that make up the hardline movement.

Washington and Nato have pledged to withdraw their troops by September 11, leaving Afghan forces to defend themselves and protect the vulnerable

population. While the militants have avoided engaging US troops, they have stepped up attacks against Afghan government forces. Violence has rocked several provinces in recent weeks, and on Tuesday the insurgents seized a district not far from the capital.

A series of blasts outside a girls’ school in Kabul on Saturday killed more than 50 people, mostly teenage girls. Officials blamed the Taliban, who denied they were involved in the attack in a neighbourhood largely populated by Shia Hazaras who are often targeted by extremist Sunni Islamist militants.