The Columbus Dispatch

Suicide bomber targeting Afghan Taliban kills 21

- By Amir Shah

KABUL, Afghanista­n — A suicide bomber blew himself up in eastern Afghanista­n on Saturday, killing 21 people and wounding 41, most of them believed to be Taliban fighters who had gathered to celebrate a three-day ceasefire marking the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, a police official said.

Nangarhar provincial Police Chief Ghulam Sanayee Stanikzai said the devastatin­g explosion occurred as previously unthinkabl­e scenes of unarmed Taliban fighters celebratin­g Eid, often alongside Afghan security forces, played out in cities throughout the warshatter­ed country on Friday and again on Saturday.

Although no one had claimed responsibi­lity for Saturday’s explosion in the Rodat district of eastern Nangarhar province, the country’s Islamic State affiliate, which did not sign on to the cease-fire, has a strong presence in the area. Previously, Islamic State fighters have clashed with Taliban, who have rejected their demands for a caliphate.

Within hours of the explosion, President Ashraf Ghani announced he would extend the government’s nine-day cease-fire that was to expire on Sunday. The cease-fire, which he had unilateral­ly announced last week, was to end at the conclusion of the Eid holiday, which follows the fasting month of Ramadan.

Ghani offered no details of the extension, including how long it would be in effect.

The Taliban’s leader, Haibatulla­h Akhunzada, had separately announced a three-day truce on Monday to mark the Eid holiday. The Taliban cease-fire took effect at midnight Thursday.

Ghani in his statement announcing the extension called on the Taliban to reply in kind. He also said that a cease-fire could be accompanie­d with visits to their prisoners and treatment for their fighters at hospitals in Afghanista­n.

Ghani also repeated his promise that everything could be on the negotiatio­n table, including the presence of foreign forces in the country.

Taliban leader Akhundzada said last week that he wants direct talks with the United States before engaging in negotiatio­ns with the Afghan government. There was no immediate Taliban reply to Ghani’s latest offer of an extension.

In a statement Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo welcomed Ghani’s offer of an extension to the cease-fire, adding that the U.S. “stands ready to work with the Afghan government, the Taliban, and all the people of Afghanista­n to reach a peace agreement and political settlement that brings a permanent end to this war.”

Meanwhile Atta-ulRahman Salim, deputy head of Afghanista­n’s High Peace Council, said Taliban fighters from across the country were entering into government-controlled areas to visit their families “and they were being welcomed by government security forces.”

In eastern Logar province, dozens of Taliban on motorcycle­s roared through the provincial capital of A wounded man is taken into a hospital in Jalalabad, Afghanista­n, on Saturday after a suicide bomber struck as Taliban fighters and others were celebratin­g a cease fire marking the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr. The country’s Islamic State affiliate, which did not sign on to the cease-fire, has opposed the Taliban and has a strong presence in the area. Pul-e-Alam, some of the vehicles festooned with the Afghan flag. Provincial police spokesman Shahpur Ahmadzai told The Associated Press that the Taliban were unarmed, and no one was allowed into the city with weapons.

Abdullah Faizani, a Taliban fighter from Logar’s Baraki district, said it had been seven years since he has been to the provincial capital.

Although he wanted an extended cease-fire, he said he would not lay down his weapons permanentl­y until “all the foreign troops leave Afghanista­n.”

 ?? [MOHAMMAD ANWAR DANISHYAR/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS] ??
[MOHAMMAD ANWAR DANISHYAR/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]

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