NATO’s top general in Afghanistan ordered all international troops in the country to halt offensive operations yesterday in honor of a UN-backed day of peace. Even the Taliban is pledging to lay down their weapons for a day.
The order follows an announcement from Afghan President Hamid Karzai that Afghan troops will observe Peace Day by not taking part in any offensive operations. He also called on armed militant groups to observe the day and “stop destroying their country.”
“I advised Afghan troops that they should respect this holy Peace Day, and they shouldn’t conduct any operation or fire unless they come under attack,” Karzai said in a statement on Friday. “I advised the same thing to the international forces.”
NATO said its 48,000 troops would continue to guard personnel and military outposts but would not engage in offensive operations from midnight on Saturday until midnight last night.
“This has been agreed by the government of Afghanistan and ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] as a show of their mutual intent to bring peace to Afghanistan,” ISAF said in a statement.
However, it said, “The insurgents must be in no doubt that [NATO] will defend itself and the people of Afghanistan from offensive action by the enemies of Afghanistan.”
The separate US-led coalition will also observe the day, coalition spokesman Master Sergeant Mark Swart said.
In the latest violence, two roadside bombs have killed three international soldiers — two serving under the NATO-led force and one under the US-led coalition. Military officials did not release the soldiers’ nationalities. Two soldiers died in the east — where most of the troops are from the US — and one died in the south, NATO and the coalition said.
Yesterday is the 26th anniversary of the International Day of Peace, a UN-backed push for a day of nonviolence and global ceasefire.
The UN mission in Afghanistan in particular heavily promotes the day.
Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the UN mission, said the UN he hoped to vaccinate 1.8 million Afghan children over a three-day period starting yesterday in honor of the day.
A Taliban spokesman identifying himself as Qari Yousef Ahmadi said on Saturday that the Taliban supported the idea of Peace Day. Ahmadi said Taliban attacks were only a means of self-defense.
“We wanted peace in the past, we want peace now and we want peace in the future,” he said. “We are defending ourselves. The invaders are in our country, launching operations against us. Now that the Afghan government and their foreign allies are requesting peace for one day, that is nothing, one day, but of course we are respecting it.”
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