ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban did not declare ceasefire until late Monday considering the fact that the Afghan Preseident, Ashraf Ghani, announced a three-month conditional truce on Sunday. The government ceasefire was scheduled to start on Monday and President Ghani said that the ceasefire would only be effective if the Taliban accept and implement his offer. Although, the Taliban did not formally announce the truce, they decided not to carry out major attacks during the three days of Eidul Azha, Taliban sources said. In Afghanistan, the Eid would be celebrated today. Previously, the Taliban announced ceasefire during Eidul Fitr that was widely welcomed by the people. Thousands of Taliban fighters entered major cities during the last ceasefire. The Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, refused to offer comments when asked as to why the Taliban did not declare ceasefire this time around. “I have received no information from the leadership,” Mujahid said in reply to a query posted on his Whatsapp. The Taliban, however, said that they released a “large number of prisoners of war captured during this month’s fighting in Ghazni on the eve of Eid”. The Taliban sources added that they declared the ceasefire during Eidul Fitr on the request of the people of Afghanistan and the ceasefire also benefited them to prove that they were “united under a single leadership” and that there was no other group as the Afghan officials’ claim of the presence of over 20 insurgent groups. “A single shot was not fired during the three-day ceasefire and we negated the claim by the Kabul administration and its Western allies that 26 armed groups operate in Afghanistan,” he said. “We also had some concerns that the US and the Kabul regime could claim that the Taliban declared the ceasefire because of the pressure on them,” he added. “Another problem was that the officials in Kabul could launch propaganda that the Taliban declared the ceasefire because Pakistan promised the Afghan leaders of its continued support for enduring peace in Afghanistan and that the Taliban were under Pakistan’s influence,” a Taliban leader said requesting not to be named. A former Taliban leader, when approached as to why the Taliban did not declare ceasefire this time, said that there was no consensus this time among the Taliban commanders and there could be a possibility of difference of opinion on the issue which would lead to an embarrassment for the Taliban. He was also of the view that the Taliban leadership had serious apprehensions that certain elements could try to “sabotage” the Eidul Azha truce through attacks in different areas to give the impression that the Taliban disobeyed orders by their supreme leader, Maulvi Hibatullah. As the Taliban played down Mr Ghani’s offer, his spokesman, Haroon Chakhansory, said, on Monday, that the military operation against the Taliban would continue, unless the group announced a formal ceasefire, Tolo TV reported. “The order was issued for operations and today and last night there were operations in at least four to five provinces,” Mr Chakhansory was quoted as saying. The Taliban Chief, Maulawi Hibatullah, in his Eid message said that the Taliban would continue fighting until the presence of the foreign troops but, at the same time, he reiterated his group’s stance for direct talks with the United States (US) to end the conflict in Afghanistan. “Since the ongoing war in Afghanistan is the birth-child of the US occupation therefore, we have and will continue to insist on direct talks with the US to bring it to an end,” Hibatullah said. The Taliban sources, privy to the last month’s negotiations between the representatives of the Taliban and the US officials in Qatar, told the Daily Times that the US also “pressed the Taliban to declare a ceasefire until the completion of the parliamentary elections” in Afghanistan scheduled to be held in October this year. Published in Daily Times, August 21st 2018.