Afghanistan's Ghani Welcomes Taliban's Three-Day Eid Cease-Fire

(Bloomberg) -- The Taliban’s announcement of a three-day cease-fire starting on the first day of the Eid holiday comes "following the bold decision by the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to cease the fight for a period of time," Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani says in a tweet.

Taliban announced on Saturday it would halt fighting against Afghan forces for three days during holidays starting next week.

The U.S.-led foreign forces are excluded from the cease-fire and the group will continue fighting them, Zabihullah Mujahed, a Taliban spokesman, said earlier in an emailed statement.

Ghani on June 7 announced a rare and temporary cease-fire after the Islamic Council issued an edict that forbade suicide bombing and had urged the group to join peace efforts.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eltaf Najafizada in Kabul at enajafizada1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, James Amott

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