Monday, May 10, 2021
Government in Kabul agrees
Taliban celebrate the end of Ramadan with a ceasefire
The withdrawal of NATO from Afghanistan has just begun when serious attacks rock the country. After attacks on a girls’ school and a bus, the Taliban agree to a ceasefire at the end of Ramadan. While the Islamists speak of three days, the government in Kabul is hoping for more.
The radical Islamic Taliban announced a three-day ceasefire on the occasion of the Eid-al-Fitr festival at the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The Afghan government also approved the ceasefire. In the past few days, the country had been rocked by serious attacks. After the attack in front of a girls’ school in Kabul, at least eleven people were killed in a bomb attack on a bus on Monday night.
According to the statements, the Taliban want to stop all attacks across the country from the first to the third day of the Islamic festival. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani instructed the military to comply with the ceasefire as well. The head of state has also called on the insurgents to a permanent ceasefire, announced the presidential palace.
No attacks on withdrawing troops
Violence in Afghanistan has risen sharply since May 1 – the originally targeted withdrawal date for US troops. The attacks were not directed against the US armed forces, but against the Afghan military and the civilian population. At least eleven people were killed in the bomb attack on a bus in the province of Sabul in the south-east of the country, and 28 others were injured, according to the Interior Ministry.
On Saturday, more than 50 people had been killed and over 100 others injured in an attack in front of a girls’ school in the Afghan capital. According to the Home Office, a car bomb detonated in front of the school. When the students ran out of the building in a panic, two more explosive devices exploded. It was the worst attack in Afghanistan in over a year. The government blamed the Taliban for the crime. The Islamists rejected this.
The attack had caused international horror. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert spoke in Berlin of a terrorist attack, “which could not have been any more malicious or vile”. Now it is important to continue the peace negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government. A ceasefire “would be a good start,” added Seibert.
The extremists had already announced a cease-fire last year on the occasion of the Eid-al-Fitr festival. The Afghan government is hoping for a permanent ceasefire. “We believe that the best solution for resolving the crisis is to accelerate peace talks, declare a ceasefire and end the fighting permanently,” said the chairman of the Afghan Peace Council, Abdullah Abdullah.
Long ceasefire: Taliban fear division
However, the political expert Fawad Kotschi believes this is unlikely. “The government will do all it can to extend the ceasefire, but the Taliban will return to the battlefield right after Eid,” he predicted. “The Taliban know that a prolonged ceasefire would divide them and destroy their momentum. They will never want that.”
The US government signed an agreement with the Taliban in February 2020 to end the longest war effort in US history. The US promised to withdraw its troops by May 1st. The deadline was not met due to a lack of progress in the peace talks between the Taliban and the government in Kabul.
US President Joe Biden then announced a troop withdrawal by September 11th. Subsequently, the entire NATO decided to end its Afghanistan mission by September at the latest. However, peace efforts between the Afghan government and the Taliban are still making no headway.
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