Safe Eid: Serious Taliban pledge or disclaimer of possible violence?

Nahla Abdel Moneim

Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha remain the most important religious rituals in Islam and are suitable for compassion, but terrorist groups are not concerned with these occasions and continue to fight during them, choosing these holidays as strategic times to target crowds or take advantage of politically.

During a speech by Afghan Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada on August 8, he demanded that his members take all necessary steps to protect people and ensure their happiness and security throughout the days of Eid al-Adha, and to protect public projects and national centers of wealth, demanding all other parties, especially the US, to stop violent military operations.

Speaking about this framework, Akhundzada said that political efforts have been effective during the last phase to end the military presence in Afghanistan and the evacuation of the occupation.

This talk sparked several discussions about the use of Eid in the current negotiations between the parties. The year 2018 witnessed the first such truce, at the request of the Afghan government approved by the Taliban, but on Eid al-Fitr, June 7, 2019, the movement violated the agreement and carried out several attacks in different parts of the country, killing 30 people, including 11 civilians. Even before the truce, the Taliban spread violence throughout the country with no concern for these holidays.

Commenting on future developments, Nourhan el-Sheikh, a professor of political science at Cairo University, said the Taliban leader’s demands are closely linked to the course of the negotiations, as well as to broad understandings that seem to have occurred with US authorities as well as promises about their participation in power.

Norhan added that the Taliban does not care about those occasions, and previous holidays have seen extensive strikes at very critical times, so it seems that the Taliban is looking to improve its media image.

With regard to the possibility of the Taliban committing to the terms of the truce or not, she pointed out that the coming days, especially the Eid al-Adha period, will clarify the true intentions of the movement and what was intended from this statement.

In her view, the Taliban is either really serious about implementing this and honest about the proposal, or it wants to acquit itself from possible violent acts by some of its elements during the holiday so as not to affect the course of negotiations, especially with the presence of active currents within the movement adopting a very strict approach and refusing to abandon violence.