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szdaily -> World -> 
Taliban declares cease-fire in Afghanistan for Eid
    2020-07-30  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

THE Taliban announced a temporary cease-fire Tuesday as pressure built to bring the militants and the Afghan Government together for direct peace talks now months overdue.

The Afghan Government welcomed the move marking the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha and ordered Afghan Government forces to respect the truce. But the gestures of goodwill come as violence across the country remains high, despite the signing of a peace deal between the Taliban and the United States in February.

The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, returned to the region this month to build momentum for direct talks between the two sides. Under the February accord, talks with the government were set to begin in March.

A controversial prisoner exchange and continued violence were key sticking points. The Afghan Government has recently indicated that it may be willing to release the 5,000 prisoners demanded by Taliban leadership as a precondition to talks. And the Taliban has said the group is open to direct talks after the Eid holiday, once the prisoner swap is complete.

The Taliban cease-fire announcement called on the group’s fighters to “halt offensive operations against enemy forces” during the three-day holiday starting Friday. But if government forces attack, the statement said, “they must be met with a strong response.” The statement also said the group’s fighters are not permitted to travel to government-controlled territory.

A cease-fire in 2018 was marked by extraordinary scenes of Taliban and government fighters crossing enemy lines to greet one another. Reports later emerged that the cessation of violence also led to large numbers of defections from the Taliban’s ranks.

Despite brief pauses in fighting, the war in Afghanistan remains one of the world’s deadliest conflicts, according to a United Nations report released this week. During the first half of this year, more than 1,200 civilians were killed. The Taliban and other anti-government militant groups were responsible for most of those casualties, according to the report.(SD-Agencies)

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