Kabul declares Eid truce with Taleban
kabul — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a ceasefire with Taleban insurgents from Monday on the eve of Eid Al Adha, days after fighting in the central city of Ghazni and a northern province.
Taleban sources said their leaders had also provisionally agreed a four-day truce during the Eid, though supreme leader Sheikh Haibatullah Akhunzada still had to give his final approval.
The militant movement said it would free hundreds of prisoners, without going into further details.
Fighting has been mounting in the Taleban’s insurgency against the government in Kabul and Nato coalition forces, launched after the militant group was ousted from power in a US-led military intervention in 2001.
The truce announcement came a day after clashes erupted in the northern province of Faryab, an interior ministry official said. The Taleban had taken control of part of Bulcheragh district and more than 50 government forces were missing, he added.
This month at least 150 soldiers and 95 civilians were killed in a five-day battle for control of Ghazni. Afghan soldiers managed to push back the rebels last week.
Earlier on Sunday, the UN said blasts, suicide attacks and clashes killed more than 1,600 civilians in the first six months of the year, the highest number in the past decade. “The conditional ceasefire will start tomorrow and it will continue as long as the Taleban preserves it,” Ghani said in a ceremony celebrating 99 years of independence from British rule. —