Hopes high as truce begins
A week-long, partial truce appeared to be largely holding across Afghanistan yesterday, with jubilant civilians celebrating in the streets to mark a potentially historic turning point in the war, even as isolated attacks threatened to undermine the process.
The Taliban, US and Afghan forces have all agreed to a so-called "reduction in violence" marking only the second lull in fighting since 2001.
"It is the first morning that I go out without the fear of being killed by a bomb or suicide bomber. I hope it continues forever," Kabul taxi driver Habib Ullah said, while in other parts of the country people danced in the streets after the truce kicked in at midnight.
However in Balkh province in the north, Taliban fighters attacked a district headquarters near the provincial capital of Mazar-i-Sharif, killing two Afghan soldiers, a local official told AFP. There were also reports of a separate incident in central Uruzgan province.
General Scott Miller, who leads US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, did not directly address those incidents, but stressed that Western forces would continually monitor the situation.
"We've stopped our offensive operations as part of our obligations," Miller told reporters.
In the event of any breaches of the truce, Miller said the US would communicate with the Taliban through various channels set up in Doha, where the insurgents have a political office.
"As more days go on we will have a better understanding of what trends are," Miller said.
The partial truce is expected to set the conditions for Washington and the insurgents to sign a deal in Doha on February 29 that could, ultimately, pull US troops out after more than 18 years and launch war-weary Afghanistan into an uncertain future.
A successful week would show the Taliban can control their forces and demonstrate good faith ahead of any signing.
Meanwhile, the UN's Afghanistan mission yesterday said that more than 10,000 people had been killed or wounded in the war in 2019 alone.
Washington has been in talks with the Taliban for more than a year to secure a deal which would see it initially reduce troop levels from approximately 12-13,000 to an expected total of about 8,600.
In return, the Taliban would give security guarantees and a promise to hold peace talks with the government in Kabul.
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