The Eid al-Fitr holiday began on Monday, and so did the Afghanistan ceasefire announced by the Taliban. Early signs are very promising, and everything seems to be holding. The Ghani government even released 100 prisoners as part of the process.
This is just a small number of prisoners, part of what President Ghani says will be 2,000. Officials reportedly plan to release 100 prisoners per day, and there is hope that the ceasefire will be extended beyond the 3-day truce.
The ceasefire seems to be following the similar path of the Eid al-Fitr ceasefire in 2018. That ended after three days, though the release of prisoners could go a long way toward extending the ceasefire as part of a bid for outright peace.
This is the most progress toward intra-Afghan peace since the US and Taliban signed a peace deal. This is a big chance to make up for lost time from past refusals to meet prisoner release expectations, and get the process going in a big way.
Better check the released prisoners for COVID-19….