Well, it’s something. Not sure what yet.
The Taliban have announced a three-day ceasefire with Afghan government forces coinciding with Eid later this month.
This is the Taliban’s first ceasefire since they were toppled by the 2001 US-led invasion and comes days after a unilateral truce by government troops.
The group said it would stop all offensive operations during the holiday, except against foreign forces.
The announcement came hours after Taliban fighters killed over 60 Afghan security forces across the country.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the Taliban move was an opportunity for the militants to realise “their violent campaign” was “not winning them hearts and minds but further alienating the Afghan people from their cause”.
The Afghan government’s unconditional truce follows a meeting of clerics, who earlier this week issued a fatwa condemning militant violence as un-Islamic.
The clerics were themselves targeted in a suicide attack claimed by IS, which killed 14 people outside their peace tent in Kabul this week.
The Taliban did not specify why they made the surprise decision to agree to the truce in their statement, but they did say they would consider releasing prisoners of war as long they did not continue fighting against them.
Can’t we just tell the Islamic evil it is “EID” all the time?
Probably too much to hope for.