KABUL (AFP)The Taleban announced a three-day ceasefire during the Eid al-Fitr holiday starting on Sunday (May 24) in a surprise move following months of bloody fighting with Afghan forces after the group signed a landmark agreement with the US.
President Ashraf Ghani swiftly welcomed the insurgents' offer and ordered his forces to also comply.
Taleban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement posted on social media that the group's "leadership instructs all the mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate to take special measures for security of the countrymen, and conduct no offensive operation against the enemy anywhere."
The statement, which announced a halt to hostilities "during the three days of Eid," instructed Taleban fighters to refrain from entering government areas and also said that Kabul forces were not allowed to enter territories under their control.
Since the US invasion in 2001 there has only been one other pause in the fightinga surprise three-day ceasefire between the Taleban and Kabul marking the religious festival of Eid in 2018.
That ceasefire call was given by President Ashraf Ghani, which the insurgents had accepted.
During the brief lull in fighting at that time, Afghans responded joyfully, with Taleban fighters, security forces and civilians hugging, sharing ice creams and posing for selfies in previously unimaginable scenes.
Ghani was quick to accept the Taleban ceasefire offer.
"I welcome the ceasefire announcement by the Taleban," he said on Twitter.
"As commander-in-chief I've instructed ANDSF (Afghan National Defence Security Force) to comply with the three-day truce and to defend only if attacked."
Saturday's announcement comes just days after the Taleban's leader Haibatullah Akhundzada urged Washington "not to waste" the opportunity offered by the deal the militants signed with the United States in February that set the stage for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.
"The Islamic Emirate is devoted to the agreement... and urges the other side to honour its own commitments and not allow this critical opportunity to go to waste," Akhundzada said in a statement, using the Taleban's name for Afghanistan.
The signing of the deal between the US and the Taleban was preceded by a so-called "reduction in violence" however, not an official ceasefire.
US PUSHES FOR PEACE
The US-Taleban deal is also aimed at paving the way for the insurgents to hold direct peace talks with Kabul.
US President Donald Trump's administration has made it a priority to end the war in Afghanistan, and in a bid to pull out foreign forces US officials have been pushing the Taleban and government leaders to hold peace talks.
Analysts however say the Taleban have been emboldened by the deal with the US, and Afghan government officials have reported more than 3,800 attacks since it was signed, killing 420 civilians and wounding 906.
However, the top US official who brokered Washington's deal with the Taleban says the insurgents have kept up their end of the bargaineven if recent violence violated the spirit of the accord.
"The Taleban have implemented their agreement not to attack the coalition forces," US Special Representative to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said earlier this month.
His remarks came after a horrific attack against a maternity hospital in Kabul that killed dozensincluding mothers and infantsand a suicide bombing at a funeral.
The Taleban denied involvement in the attacks, however, President Ghani blamed them and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group for the bloodshed.
Following that attack and another suicide bombing in the country's east the government ordered security forces to switch to an "offensive" posture against the Taleban.
The Taleban responded by vowing to increase attacks against government forces.
The group has carried out regular attacks against Afghan forces in recent days, and earlier this week even tried to enter the northern city of Kunduz.
Afghan forces, however, managed to repel the Taleban attack on Kunduz, a city which had fallen to the insurgents twice before.