Iran Press/ Asia: Hopes for an end to Afghanistan’s decades of war were raised in late February when the Taliban and the United States struck a deal on the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces in exchange for Taliban security guarantees.
But the deal did not include a ceasefire, which has been left to the US-backed government to negotiate with the insurgents.
President Ashraf Ghani called on Thursday for the ceasefire for Ramadan, which began in Afghanistan on Friday, and to allow the country to focus on what he said was a critical novel coronavirus outbreak spreading all over the country.
A Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, said in a post on Twitter that a ceasefire would be possible if the peace process was being implemented “fully” but “hurdles” meant the Taliban would not yet lay down their arms.
“Asking for a ceasefire is not rational and convincing,” Shaheen said in his post late on Thursday.
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