Afghan cease-fire ends amid calls for fresh peace talks

Gulf Today Report

Fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces resumed Sunday in the restive southern province of Helmand, officials said, ending a three-day ceasefire agreed by the warring sides to mark Eid Al Fitr holiday.

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said the negotiating teams of the government and the Islamic Emirate, as the Taliban refer to their ousted regime, met briefly Saturday in the Middle Eastern State of Qatar. They renewed their commitment to finding a peaceful end to the war and called for an early start to talks that have been stalled, he said.

READ MORE

India records more than 4,000 daily coronavirus deaths

Thousands rally across Europe to back Palestinians

The US has been pressing for accelerated talks as it withdraws the last of its 2,500-3,500 soldiers and NATO its remaining 7,000 allied forces.

Taliban and government signed on to the cease-fire, which was declared to mark the Eid Al Fitr.

The two sides clashed on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, which had seen intense fighting since May 1 after the US military began its final withdrawal from Afghanistan, an Afghan military spokesman and a local official said.

Even as the Taliban and government signed on to the cease-fire, which was declared to mark the Islamic holiday of Eid Al Fitr, violence continued unabated in Afghanistan. A bombing Friday in a mosque north of the capital killed 12 worshippers, including the prayer leader. Another 15 people were wounded. The Taliban denied involvement and blamed the government intelligence agency. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

Meanwhile, the militant group Daesh claimed it carried out this week's attack on a mosque on the outskirts of the Afghan capital that left 12 worshippers dead, SITE Intelligence Group reported.

The explosion happened inside a mosque in Shakar Darah district of Kabul province during Friday prayers and shattered the relative calm of a three-day ceasefire agreed between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

In posts on its affiliated websites, Daesh claimed additional attacks over the last two weeks that destroyed 13 electrical grid stations in several provinces. The stations bring imported power from the Central Asian countries of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

In recent weeks, fighting between the Taliban and government forces had surged across several provinces before the ceasefire was agreed, including in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand.