AFGHAN PREZ ANNOUNCES CEASEFIRE WEEK

Kabul, June 7: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday announced a weeklong ceasefire with the Taliban to coincide with the holiday marking the end of Ramzan next week.

A statement sent from the president’s office on Thursday says the ceasefire will begin on June 12 and last through the Id al- Fitr holiday, until around June 19. It says the ceasefire does not include al- Qaeda or the Islamic State group.

There was no immediate comment from the Taliban, who have steadily expanded their presence in recent years, capturing a number of districts across the country and carrying out near- daily attacks, mainly targeting Afghan security forces.

Gen. Mohammad Sharif Yaftali, the army chief of staff, told reporters that Afghan forces would be on standby throughout the ceasefire and respond to any attacks. He also said the Army would continue to battle “international terrorists,” apparently referring to al- Qaeda and IS.

Ghani’s statement referred to a gathering of Afghanistan’s top clerics on Monday in which they issued a decree against suicide attacks and called for peace talks. A suicide bomber struck just outside the gathering as it was dispersing, killing at least seven people and wounding 20 in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. The Taliban had denounced the gathering, insisting that its jihad, or holy war, against foreign invaders was justified. It instead urged the clerics to side with it against the “occupation.”

The US and NATO formally concluded their combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014, but the US still has thousands of forces based there in a support role.