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Pakistan Played Role in Afghanistan's Eid Cease-Fire

by Ayesha Tanzeem

   ISLAMABAD --

   Pakistan played a key role in the June cease-fire Afghanistan made with
   the Taliban, designed to allow the country to celebrate the holy
   festival of Eid peacefully.

   The move bodes well for relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan,
   which have been rocky for almost two years.

   "The high-level visits from both countries significantly reduced
   negative rhetoric against each other, significantly reduced incidents
   or irritants between the two countries, and [we have seen] a more
   robust cooperation from Pakistan with respect to peace and stability,"
   Afghanistan Ambassador to Pakistan Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal said during a
   daylong conference organized by the the Jinnah Institute, an
   Islamabad-based think tank.

   When the cease-fire was announced, scores of Taliban fighters headed to
   the cities -- several of them posting selfies with the local
   population. Others offered Eid prayers with members of the security
   forces -- their battlefield enemies. Several of them told the media
   they were tired of the war.

   But the temporary cease-fire, termed a crucial step for any
   reconciliation process to succeed in Afghanistan, failed to begin a new
   phase of talks among key stakeholders in the region, with the Taliban
   rejecting an extension proposed by Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani.

   According to Zakhilwal, the leadership refused to extend the cease-fire
   out of fear it might lead to an end of war without negotiations.

   "Certainly for the leaders, after fighting for so many years, at a
   minimum, they want to get something out of it," he said.

   However, Khalilullah Safi, a peace activist who has worked on the peace
   process and has contacts with both sides, alleged that one of the
   reasons the Taliban did not extend the cease-fire was the Ghani
   administration failed to deliver on commitments it made to them.

   "During Ramadan, the Afghan government gathered Muslim clerics to issue
   a fatwa [edict] against the Taliban, which angered the Taliban," Safi
   said.

   He said both sides had also agreed to release certain prisoners, but
   the Afghan government failed to do so.

   "Taliban said the Afghan government did not keep its commitment, which
   is why they did not extend the cease-fire," Safi said.

   Zakhilwal also claims the cease-fire was not extended because the
   Taliban leadership got scared when they saw the reaction from their own
   fighters.

   "The cease-fire showed '¦ that their fighters were indeed tired of the
   ongoing war, indeed were open for peace talks, indeed were thirsty for
   peaceful days," he said, adding that it dealt a blow to the Taliban
   leadership's narrative that any signs of negotiation would lead to
   resistance or even rebellion in their own ranks.

   But Taliban leaders said the cease-fire proved they were a unified
   force and that claims of ruptures within its ranks were baseless.