Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has ordered all forces to hold fire for three days on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and called for a permanent ceasefire in the country.
He was responding to the Taliban announcement of a three-day ceasefire for Eid. President Ghani stated that the government is aware of the announcement of the ceasefire by the Taliban, but he did not welcome it.
In a statement on Monday, President Ghani said that “the Taliban’s violence has no legitimacy as international troops are leaving the country.”
The statement said that “the president stressed that the Afghan government and people want a real and lasting ceasefire.”
“Our message to the Taliban is that their latest attacks during Ramzan in Logar, Helmand, Ghazni, Herat, Baghlan, the Kabul school attack, and today’s (Monday) deadly incident in Zabul show that any attempt to impose violence and make efforts to create horror among the people to achieving political and intelligence goals only leads to more hatred (towards them) among the people,” Ghani said.
He said that the Taliban in the last few weeks might have learned that their calculation of winning militarily and in face-to-face fights against the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces is wrong.
He once again called on the Taliban to respond to the people’s demand for ceasefire and return to the negotiating table.
