Fighting Resumes Across Afghanistan as Ceasefire Ends

Eid al-Fitr, an important feast commemorating the end of Ramadan, has come and gone for this year, and the Afghanistan ceasefire has gone with it. Hopes of extending the ceasefire, possibly permanently, didn’t pan out.

Instead, fighting has resumed across much of Afghanistan, with fighting reported in at least 15 provinces. This means having gotten a brief lull in violence, everyone is back to trying to make progress on peace talks.

The focus for the Taliban is the peace process, while some Afghan officials are looking to shift the blame on the end of the ceasefire solely to the Taliban, and claiming that they were responsible for myriad violations.

It’s not clear how many of the violations were actually Taliban, however. One of the few substantial incidents was a mosque bombing in Kabul, which ISIS has taken credit for. ISIS was not party to the ceasefire.