Ceasefire Holds in Afghanistan’s Laghman Province After Elders Make a Deal

As everyone tries to come up with ceasefire options for Afghanistan, the Laghman Province is enjoying success in a separate deal worked out by local tribal elders, and for the last month the Alingar District, which was a tense area, has enjoyed relative calm.

Life in the district has important seasonality, with  most of the locals being farmers, and needing to focus on the wheat harvest, while young people need safety for annual school exams, and it would be nice if the school wasn’t a battleground.

This is hardly the only place in Afghanistan with those exact problems, but with the elders so successful in negotiating a ceasefire, there is high hope that it can serve as an example for other efforts.

There is expectation that the Afghan government and Taliban will need a ceasefire nationwide for serious peace talks, but so far no such deals have been reached anywhere else.