Atmar on Taliban-soldiers selfies: ‘War flames fueled from outside’

KABUL (Pajhwok): Reacting to video and pictures on social media showing cheerful soldiers and Taliban hugging one another and exchanging Eid greetings in several provinces, National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar has said foreign countries and their intelligence agencies have been keeping the war flames alive in Afghanistan.

In a message on the occasion of Eidul Fitr, Atmar said all but one of these pictures had a lot to tell. The two men ---one soldier and one Talib --- with  their smiling faces indicated a fortunate future and trust building between the sides.

“These two men live in different worlds of thinking but their features show they have the same blood, they are from the same race and both want a bright future for their motherland.”

“On our sacred land, foreign countries and their intelligence agencies have been keeping alive the flames of war in Afghanistan to reach their nefarious designs, otherwise the Afghans under no circumstances want the war to continue,” said the NSA.

Video and pictures on social media showed cheerful soldiers and Taliban hugging one another and exchanging Eid greetings in Logar province, south of Kabul, and Zabul in the south and central Maidan Wardak.

No report of violence could be reported over the past 24 hours after the Taliban’s ceasefire went into effect on Friday, overlapping with an Afghan government ceasefire which lasts until Wednesday.

Members of rights groups organised a brief meeting between Afghan forces and Taliban insurgents in Helmand’s capital Laskargah, where the Taliban have delivered a series of blows to government forces this year.

Men and women gathered around the soldiers and Taliban fighters and urged them to keep their weapons holstered before they hugged each other.

Photos circulating on social media show armed Afghan police forces standing in line at the corner of the street hugging Taliban fighters one by one.

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