KABUL: Afghanistan’s government is working on a plan to announce another cease-fire with Taliban militants during the Eid days, similar to the previous religious festival of Muslims, a spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani said on Wednesday.
The plan for a second truce comes after Taliban emissaries and US officials reportedly held direct talks in Qatar a few weeks ago seeking an end to the 17 years of war that began with the toppling of a Taliban government in a US-led invasion in 2001.
“We are working on a plan for cease-fire, a unilateral step, like the previous one. We will see what happens,” Shah Hussain Murtazawi, a spokesman for Ghani, told Arab News.
He did not say if there was any direct or indirect contact with the Taliban about the truce. He said the details would be released once the plan is finalized.
While the Taliban observed the truce only during the three days of Eid in June, the Ghani administration declared a longer cease-fire, drawing harsh criticism from some political rivals because the militants took advantage of the truce and conducted massive attacks on government forces.
But the brief halt to hostilities, the first in nearly four decades of war in Afghanistan, has also raised hopes among many that the warring sides realize nothing can be achieved through war.
With long-delayed parliamentary elections slated for October, followed by a presidential vote six months later, the government is keen to extend the truce even beyond Eid.
The truce comes amid a push for peace and decrees by a number of pro-government clergies and Islamic scholars overseas who said the war against the incumbent Afghan government is unlawful, as are suicide attacks by the militants.
Days ago, the Taliban said in a statement that a group of clerics in the militant-controlled areas had issued a decree saying the war was legitimate as long as foreign troops remained on Afghan soil.
With Eid just 10 days away, the Taliban spokesman said the leadership of the movement would decide about the government’s plan for a second round of truce.
Waheed Mozhdah, an analyst who has long had contact with the Taliban, said the group may also announce a truce, but added that unlike the previous round, the insurgents would not be allowed to visit government-held areas where they celebrated Eid with government forces and provincial officials last time, sipping tea, eating food and taking selfies even in major cities such as Kabul.
“The contact I had with the Taliban suggested that they will also observe the truce but will bar Taliban members from visiting government-controlled areas. However, the Taliban will allow government troops and officials to visit their relatives and family members in Taliban-held regions,” Mozhdah told Arab News.
He said the planned truce will also have an impact on the next round of talks between the Taliban and American officials scheduled in September in Qatar.
But he said the government and the US were after one single goal by announcing and extending the truce; to allow convocation of the two elections to happen in a secure manner so that, unlike the current government, the future administration can argue that it has come to power on the basis of the will and vote of the people.
“This government’s main challenge is legitimacy because it has not come to power based on the result of an election. So if the Taliban observe a truce and do not disrupt the elections, the future government will argue that it is an elected one, brought to power by the people’s vote, and the Taliban and others cannot stand against it,” said Mozhdah.
