Afghanistan Times
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Taliban has announced a plan for a three-day ceasefire for the Eid-al-Fitr holiday, the truce would begin on either Wednesday or Thursday this week marking the end of the Holy month of Ramadan. Though it is widely welcomed and the people are happy to at least have three days to go and walk around the country without any fear or blast, it’s not a fundamental solution. Just hours after the Taliban declared ceasefire, a passenger bus in southern Zabul province struck a roadside mine in which 11 people were killed. Another 24 passengers received injuries. The tears did not dry from the Zabul tragedy when another two civilians were killed and nine others wounded again in a roadside bomb blast that targeted their bus in Parwan province. The ceasefire announcement came when 85 people, most of them school students were killed and 147 others were wounded in a brutal attack on their school on Saturday evening. The death toll from these three explosions continues to climb as many wounded people are in serious health conditions. Ceasefire has announced in the past as well, but none of them were able-bodied. Taliban has ordered their fighters to stop all offensive to provide a peaceful and secure atmosphere to the Afghans so they should celebrate this joyous occasion with a greater peace of mind. Such a cautious statement by the Taliban at a time when the US and NATO are withdrawing the last of their military forces, could be taken as a politically-motivated statement designed by their masters to deceive the world. Instead a permanent ceasefire should have been declared if the Taliban are really worried about the people’s peace of mind. Intensive war has been gripped around the country, and improvised explosive devices used extensively by the Taliban which is wildly deadly taking lives a day. There is a need for a lasting truce – this is how to cure the current predicament as continuation of violence is pushing the country toward backwardness and taking beautiful souls on a daily basis. Everyone, including foreign diplomats should advocate for a permanent ceasefire because the Afghans deserve to live in peace. Still the ceasefire announcement could have served as a best opportunity to resume the fragile peace talks to reach a permanent end to the conflict and give a real peace of mind to the Afghans who suffered a lot in the last 40 years of deadly war.
