Afghanistan: The president orders the army to abide by the ceasefire declared by the Taliban

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ordered government forces on Monday to abide by the ceasefire declared by the Taliban during the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, while the Pakistani army chief is visiting Kabul to meet with senior officials in conjunction with the withdrawal of foreign forces.

A statement from the presidential palace said that Ghani had ordered Afghan security forces to respect the ceasefire announced by the Taliban hours ago. Read also The Wall Street Journal: Pressure on Washington to delay the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan The Washington Post: Afghanistan is the cemetery of American arrogance The president of Afghanistan writes in Foreign Affairs: The US withdrawal is an opportunity for a precarious peace

The statement added that Taliban violence is unjustified given the current withdrawal of foreign forces from the country, calling on the movement to announce a permanent truce to turn the page on war.

Early today, the Taliban said in a statement that “the mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate have been instructed to stop all offensive operations against the enemy throughout the country, from the first to the third days of Eid al-Fitr.”

A meeting in Kabul

On the other hand, Afghan government sources said that the Pakistani army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and the intelligence chief, General Fayez Hamid, were visiting Kabul to meet President Ghani and senior officials.

Bajwa said during his meeting with Ghani that Pakistan will always support an “Afghan” peace process.

A statement issued by the Pakistani army said that Bajwa also met today with the British Chief of Staff, General Nicholas Patrick Carter, to discuss the peace process in Afghanistan.

During the past weeks, the Taliban and diplomatic sources told Reuters that Pakistan was negotiating with the movement in an attempt to persuade it to abide by the ceasefire, agree to an extension of the agreement with the United States, which provides for the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan by May, and to continue to participate in peace talks in a planned conference. In Turkey.

The recent period witnessed an escalation of violence, as Saturday’s attack targeted a girls’ school in the Dasht-Barchi neighborhood on the outskirts of Kabul, but the Taliban movement denied responsibility for it, confirming that it had not committed any attack in Kabul since February 2020.

The United States was supposed to withdraw all its troops by May 1, but Washington postponed the withdrawal date to September 11 to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of the 2001 attacks, angering the Taliban.

In a message broadcast on Sunday, Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzadeh said that any delay in this withdrawal is a “violation” of the signed agreement.

He warned, “If America fails again to abide by its obligations, the world must witness and hold America responsible for all consequences.