AFGHAN PREZ ANNOUNCES EID CEASEFIRE WITH TALIBAN

KABUL: Afghanistan announced on Thursday an apparently unilateral ceasefire with the Taliban for Eid, the holiday that caps off Ramadan, though operations against other groups including Islamic State will continue.

The week-long ceasefire, which was backed by the US and would bring some welcome relief to war-weary civilians, will last “from the 27th of Ramadan until the fifth day of Eid-al-Fitr”, President Ashraf Ghani tweeted from an official account, indicating it could run from June 12-19.

It was not immediately clear if the Taliban would agree to the ceasefire, the first during Eid since the US invasion in 2001.

“We are checking with our officials regarding the ceasefire announcement,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

The surprise declaration comes on the heels of a fatwa issued by Afghanistan’s top clerics branding suicide attacks “haram”, or forbidden, and after the Pentagon announced that senior Taliban officials had been negotiating with Afghan authorities on a possible ceasefire.

Nearly 17 years after they were toppled from power, the Taliban are resurgent, with Afghan forces struggling to contain them.

“(T)he Afghan government directs all the security and defence forces of the country... to stop all the attacks on the Taliban, but the operation will continue against Daesh (Islamic State), al-Qaeda and other international terrorist networks,” Ghani said.

In February Ghani unveiled a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban, including eventually recognising them as a political party. The insurgents did not officially respond, but attacks have proliferated since then, especially in Kabul. AFP