KABUL: A surprise Eid peace took hold in Afghanistan on Sunday after Taliban militants offered a cease-fire and the government reciprocated.
President Ashraf Ghani began a process to release up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners and said his government was ready to hold peace talks.
The release of the prisoners was a “goodwill gesture … to ensure success of the peace process,” Ghani’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.
The peace moves came as fighting between the two sides had intensified despite the coronavirus pandemic. Taliban attacks killed at least 146 civilians and injured 430 during Ramadan.
Fears had been growing that the peace deal signed on Feb. 29 between the Taliban and the US would collapse.
The joint cease-fire followed talks in Qatar last week between the Taliban and Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special representative for Afghanistan.
Khalilzad later arrived in Kabul and held talks with the Afghan political leadership over a reduction in violence and an exchange of prisoners between the Taliban and the government. This was then followed by intra-Afghan talks, which ideally should have been held in March this year, according to the Qatar accord.
“We welcome the Taliban’s decision to observe a cease-fire during Eid, as well as the Afghan government reciprocating and announcing its own,” Khalilzad said on Sunday.
He described the cease-fire agreement as a “momentous opportunity that should not be missed,” and pressed both sides to agree to a new date to start the intra-Afghan negotiations.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also urged the two sides to seize the opportunity to start peace talks, with the release of prisoners as the first step. He said he expected the Taliban “to adhere to their commitment not to allow released prisoners to return to the battlefield.”
He also urged the two sides to avoid escalating violence after Eid.
Ghani said the release of Taliban prisoners would be “expedited” and that his government’s negotiation team was ready to begin intra-Afghan talks “as soon as possible.”
Shafiq Haqpal, a political analyst in Kabul, told Arab News: “The unexpected announcement of a cease-fire by the Taliban, although short, is a bright light in the midst of rising hopelessness and an indication that both sides will engage in talks.”
“It revives hope of intra-Afghan dialogue as the Taliban had never announced truce at all during the many past years of fighting.”
However, Zabihullah Pakteen, an expert on regional politics and security, said the announcement of a truce could be a “tactical move for boosting the morale of Taliban fighters who recently suffered heavy losses on ground.”
Frustrated by decades of war, ordinary Afghans hailed the cease-fire after Eid prayers on Sunday. “It doubled Eid joy for the people,” Nasruddin, a resident of Kabul, told Arab News.
