BRUSSELS | NATO defense ministers here are lauding Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s unprecedented call for a brief cease-fire with the Taliban during Ramadan, heralding it as a sign Kabul is taking the initiative in the fledgling peace process geared toward ending the 17-year war.
There was no immediate reaction from Taliban leaders, who have scored some significant battlefield gains in recent months. The cease-fire offer did not extend to jihadi groups such as Islamic State and al Qaeda that are also battling the Kabul government and the U.S. and NATO missions.
Despite praise from the alliance, NATO members remain wary of claims that the move will be the game-changer Washington, Kabul and its allies are looking for to bring the Afghan insurgency to the negotiating table.
“From our perspective … it is an interesting and probably positive development. Most importantly … it is completely Afghan-originated,” a NATO official said.
NATO members earlier this year committed 3,000 more troops to Afghanistan, in support of the Trump administration’s decision to send 3,000 more U.S. soldiers as part of the White House’s South Asia strategy.
The U.S. delegation here, led by Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, is also expected to request more troops commitments and an overhaul of the American-led mission against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
U.S. and NATO officials expressed hope Thursday that the roughly week-long cease fire could extend beyond the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, especially if Taliban factions inclined to talks with the government are attracted by the office.
Under the cease-fire, Afghan forces will refrain from carrying out offensive operations against Taliban targets until Eid-al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. In Afghanistan, Eid-al-Fitr begins June 19.
Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said his forces would observe the cease-fire.
“President Ghani’s peace offer was universally supported by the international community and the cease-fire represents another bold initiative for peace, and is for the benefit of all Afghans,” the general said in a statement issued Thursday. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg praised the effort as “a positive step forward on the path to peace” in Afghanistan.
“The Taliban will not win on the battlefield,” Mr. Stoltenberg told reporters. “The only way for them to achieve a solution is to sit down at the negotiating table.”
But the calls for peace have been met with some frustration among ordinary Afghans, in the wake of some of the toughest fighting between government forces and the insurgency in recent years. Over 2,500 Afghan troops were killed and nearly 5,000 wounded in battling the Taliban in the first four months of 2017, according to figures released by Kabul.
Heavy fighting has been reported in the current spring offensive from the provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan and Faryab in the north to Farah in the west.
Last month, the city of Farah, one of the largest cities of Afghanistan, was on the verge of falling to the Taliban before government forces, backed by U.S. Special Operations Forces and American air power, reestablished control.
Mr. Ghani’s cease-fire offer also comes less than a week after a suicide bombing targeting a high-profile meeting of top religious leaders in Kabul left seven dead and scores wounded. The meeting of senior Islamic clerics was convened to condemn the use of suicide attacks against other Muslims in Afghanistan. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the strike, which was the latest in several to hit the Afghan capital over the last several months.
NATO officials on Thursday dismissed criticisms that Mr. Ghani’s calls for a cease-fire were made out of desperation, given recent Taliban gains.
Mr. Ghani “has expressed his frustrations before that Afghans are killing Afghans needlessly, the Taliban killing Afghan civilians in particular, when there is another path,” the NATO official said. “That would be frustrating for any rational person.”
On another issue, Mr. Mattis and the other NATO defense ministers unveiled a new plan to reinforce their presence in any European crisis with the deployment of 30 troop battalions, 30 squadrons of aircraft and 30 warships within 30 days, The Associated Press reported. Details of the plan, drawn up by the Pentagon and to be in place by 2020, remain sketchy.
They also made official staffing levels of more than 1,200 personnel for new commands covering the Atlantic Ocean — based in Norfolk, Virginia, — and in Ulm, Germany, handling logistics during any conflict on mainland Europe, according to the AP.
• Carlo Muñoz can be reached at cmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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