Taliban announce halt to fighting during Ramazan

ISLAMABAD (NNI): Afghanistan's ruling Taliban said Thursday that they will not launch any fighting against opposition forces during the holy month of Ramazan, which begins today (Friday).

"We will not initiate fighting during Ramazan," said Mawlawi Masoom Janan, head of the Taliban commission for cross-line operations for U.N. humanitarian convoys, according to news reaching here. In a special agreement, the Taliban and opposition forces agreed to allow U.N. convoys cross the front-lines, 45 kilometers north of Kabul, to provide much-needed aid to refugees in the opposition-held Panjsher valley.

On Monday eight 15-ton U.N. World Food Program trucks crossed the line to enter Gulbahar, at the mouth of the Panjsher, where wheat and clothes are to be distributed among refugees. Twenty trucks arrived on Tuesday and 12 others were due to arrive Thursday while more crossings are expected on Friday and Saturday, said the reports.