Taliban agree on three-day Eid ceasefire

KABUL, June 09 (BBC): The Taliban have announced a three-day ceasefire with Afghan government forces for Eid, later this month, but it will not apply to foreign forces.

The group directed its fighters to stop all offensive operations during the holiday, although it said they would defend themselves if attacked.

This is the first time the Taliban have agreed a ceasefire since the 2001 US-led invasion.

The government announced a unilateral ceasefire earlier this week.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the Taliban move was an opportunity for the militants to realise "their violent campaign" was "not winning them hearts and minds but further alienating the Afghan people from their cause".

The Afghan government's declaration of a ceasefire - the first unconditional offer of a ceasefire by this government - follows a meeting of religious clerics, who earlier this week issued a fatwa condemning militant violence as un-Islamic.

The clerics were themselves targeted in a suicide attack claimed by IS, which killed 14 people at the entrance to their peace tent in Kabul.