Afghan president calls for Eid cease-fire with Taliban

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August 19, 2018 4:48 PM

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan proposed a conditional cease-fire with the Taliban on Sunday, extending a trust-building measure to the insurgents before the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha this week.

“I announce a conditional cease-fire starting from tomorrow, Monday, until Nov. 21, birthday of the Prophet Muhammad,” Ghani said from Darul-Aman Palace on Sunday during celebrations for Independence Day.

“The cease-fire is conditional, and if the Taliban also announce and observe the cease-fire, it will continue until the Taliban are observing it.”

There was no immediate response from the Taliban about a cease-fire, but Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said Sunday that the group had identified hundreds of prisoners for release Monday, so that “they can share the happiness of Eid with their families and friends.”

Insurgents in the country have been staging a charm offensive of sorts in advance of Eid al-Adha, the Islamic Feast of Sacrifice, as many in the country expressed hope that the Taliban and the government would join a cease-fire and hold peace talks. In the past week alone, the insurgents have overrun cities, burned down government facilities, hidden in civilians’ homes and killed hundreds of their opponents.

But the group has been actively seeking for weeks to court Afghan civilians, promising last month to halt suicide bombings in civilian areas, and announcing on Twitter and other social networks that those who surrendered would not be harmed.

When the northern district of Bilchiragh in Faryab province was captured by the Taliban late Saturday, the militants promised the last 50 government defenders that they would be freed if they surrendered. When the government supporters capitulated, the insurgents allowed the Bilchiragh district’s police chief, Ahmad Shah Khan, to speak by phone with a reporter.

“I am with the Taliban now,” he said. “We negotiated through tribal elders, and the result is they will release the whole personnel of the district, and me, too.”

As the Taliban besieged the capital of Ghazni province, Ghazni city, beginning Aug. 10, they offered amnesty to Afghan security forces there. They said they would treat those who surrendered as “brothers,” and would give them protection.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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