Ceasefire in Afghanistan Gives Opening to US-ISIS Offensive

By Julian Hayda
A Black Hawk helicopter flies over the site of a Taliban suicide attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Aug. 2.
A Black Hawk helicopter flies over the site of a Taliban suicide attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Aug. 2.
A Black Hawk helicopter flies over the site of a Taliban suicide attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Aug. 2.
A Black Hawk helicopter flies over the site of a Taliban suicide attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Aug. 2.

Ceasefire in Afghanistan Gives Opening to US-ISIS Offensive

By Julian Hayda
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At the end of the 2018 commemoration of Ramadan, Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani, announced an eight-day ceasefire with the Taliban. Beforehand, hundreds of peace activists marched for weeks, from Helmand Province to Kabul, demanding more commitment to peace, from both the Taliban and the Ghani government. It’s unclear which Taliban faction agreed to the ceasefire, if any, but concern grows in Afghanistan about the rise of ISIS. The U.S. military leveraged the Taliban ceasefire to launch an operation against an estimated 2,000 ISIS fighters in Afghanistan. The situation is complicated by shifting allegiances of the Taliban and ISIS fighters, according to Reuters. For analysis, we talk with Najla Ayoubi. A human rights activist, lawyer, and former judge in Afghanistan, she was a Spring 2017 resident fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.