28-Jul-2020: Taliban announce three-day ceasefire in Afghanistan for Eid al-Adha

Afghanistan’s Islamist Taliban militants announced that they will observe a three-day ceasefire for the Muslim religious holiday of Eid al-Adha, offering some respite from weeks of increasing violence. However, they said, if Taliban fighters come under attack from government forces, they will retaliate.

Disagreements over a prisoner exchange and the violence have delayed peace talks between an Afghan government-mandated committee and the Taliban, as envisaged in an agreement signed between the United States and the militant group in Doha in February.

The Afghan president’s spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, said the government welcomed the ceasefire announcement but added that Afghans wanted enduring peace and the start of direct peace negotiations.

Since the U.S.-Taliban agreement, 3,560 Afghan security forces personnel have been killed in attacks by militants.

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a report that more than 1,280 Afghan civilians had been killed in the first six months of the year, mainly as a result of fighting between Afghan government forces and the Taliban.

The U.S. State Department said last week that U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad would travel to the region to push for an agreement on prisoner exchanges and a reduction in violence.