Afghan leader offers Taliban ceasefire to ‘consider if they are winning hearts and minds’
THE Afghan president has for the first time declared an unconditional ceasefire against the Taliban as he tries to galvanise a stuttering peace process.
Ashraf Ghani said his forces would cease operations against the militants for seven days from the middle of next week for Eid al-fitr at the end of Ramadan. Dr Ghani said the truce would offer the militant movement, ousted in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, a chance to reflect on whether its bloody insurgency was only alienating the public.
A spokesman for the Taliban reached by The Daily Telegraph said its leaders were considering Mr Ghani’s offer and would respond later.
The Afghan government, backed at times by Western diplomacy and intelligence agencies, has been trying to build a peace process for at least a decade, with little success.
As Kabul and the West continued to urge negotiations, the Taliban have kept encroaching on government-controlled territory and at least publicly have refused to talk to what they deem a puppet government.
Dr Ghani’s previous offer earlier this year to recognise the Taliban as a political party and allow them to take part in unconditional talks if they gave up violence was stonewalled by the militants.
“This offer of a ceasefire is an opportunity for the Taliban to introspect that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds,” Mr Ghani said.
Operations against “international terrorists” of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and al-qaeda would continue, the Afghan govern- ment said. Troops would also be on standby to respond to attacks.
The Nato-led coalition said it would abide by the ceasefire.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said: “The Taliban senior leaders are in a meeting to decide upon Ghani’s offer of ceasefire, and we will update shortly.”
Afghan civilian and military casualties in the 17-year conflict have risen sharply since the coalition ended combat operations and withdrew more than 100,000 troops in 2014. The Taliban have put military pressure on a series of provincial capitals, while a newly formed affiliate of Isil has also carried out a string of bloody attacks.
A meeting of senior clerics earlier this week endorsed a ceasefire, but their meeting was then struck by a suicide bomber who killed 14.
Atiqullah Amarkhel, former Afghan
‘This offer of a ceasefire is an opportunity for Taliban to introspect that their violent campaign is not winning them hearts and minds’
army general, said a ceasefire would give the Taliban time to regroup. “From a military prospect, it is not a good move,” he said.
The Afghan government’s international backers, who have been propping up Kabul for nearly 17 years with money and military commitment, welcomed the initiative. Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, called on the Taliban to lay down arms. “The Taliban will not win on the battlefield,” he said. “The only way for them to achieve a solution is at the negotiating table.”
Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, said the Taliban now had to “honour the ceasefire and demonstrate their respect for the people of Afghanistan who have long called for a reprieve to the Taliban’s campaign of violence”.
Meanwhile, violence continued, with an attack on a police post killing three in Ghazni.