On Fifth Day, Afghanistan Reduction of Violence Continues to Hold

Taliban denies involvement in Kabul blast, blames intelligence networks

The seven-day Reduction of Violence deal in Afghanistan continues to hold on day five, and the Saturday signing of a peace treaty to end the war seems almost a certainty. Though there have been allegations of incidents, nothing has risen to the level to put this deal in jeopardy.

The most recent reported incident was a blast reported in the capital of Kabul, with nine civilians wounded. Details on what actually happened are unclear, but the Taliban is insisting they were in no way involved.

In fact, a Taliban statement went a step further, saying that they believe the blast was created by some intelligence network trying to create distrust on the eve of peace.

This isn’t entirely impossible, as Afghanistan’s government is still somewhat on the fence about the US-Taliban deal. Either way, violence is down substantially, and the reduction of violence is a success.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.