"The nation has shown they are ready for peace, this is the greatest achievement. The ceasefire was a controlled experiment. The government is ready whenever the Taliban wants a ceasefire. The ceasefire was 98 percent successful," Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said, as quoted by the TOLO news broadcaster, adding that many members of the Taliban are seeking peace and the truce has proved that the movement is tired of war.
Many members of the Taliban are seeking peace and the truce has proved that the movement is tired of war, the president added.
Commenting on the media reports about Kabul plans to establish so-called safe zones for the radical movement, the president said that there would be no such areas.
"Safe areas for the Taliban is not in the government's plan, there will be one government with a single flag… [but] Taliban women should have the right to go to a hospital," Ghani said, as quoted by the broadcaster.
The efforts to reach peace are continuing, with Kabul trying hard to achieve results, the president underlined.
READ MORE: Taliban Seizes More Than a Dozen of Checkpoints in Eastern Afghanistan — Reports
Later in the day, the Tolo news broadcaster reported that at least 12 militants of the Taliban radical movement were killed and 18 more were injured in an airstrike conducted by the Afghan Air Force in the country's northwestern Badghis province.
Ten days later, the president prolonged the ceasefire by 10 days and called on the Taliban fighters to follow the suit.
The Taliban complied with the three-day Eid truce, but rejected the government's request to prolong the ceasefire, announcing that it would continue fighting against government forces.
