KABUL — The Taliban on Saturday announced their first-ever cease-fire since the start of the Afghan War, accepting the Kabul government’s offer to halt fighting at the conclusion of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The militant group, in a statement to reporters, said it would impose a truce with Afghan troops for three days but would continue attacks on foreign forces. The United States has about 15,000 troops in Afghanistan.
‘‘Mujahideen are instructed to halt offensives against local opponents, but defend if they are attacked,’’ the group said. The cease-fire will coincide with Eid al-Fitr, the religious holiday that marks the end of Ramadan and begins June 16.
The Taliban also said it may release prisoners including government troops, provided they agree to refrain from fighting insurgents in the future, the statement said. It is not clear how many Afghan troops the Taliban holds captive.
The unprecedented step from the insurgent group, which has been fighting foreign troops and their local allies since 2001, comes two days after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani declared a weeklong cease-fire beginning Tuesday. He invited the Taliban to respond in kind.
Ghani’s surprise announcement underscored his desire to establish a peace process that could put an end to a conflict that even his backers say cannot be won militarily.
A statement sent from the president’s office on Thursday said the government’s cease-fire will begin on 27 Ramadan, or June 12 on the Western calendar, and last through the end of the Eid al-Fitr festival, or around June 19.
Wadir Safi, a professor of international law and politics at Kabul University, said the Taliban’s decision was an acknowledgment that, despite their ability to pose a serious challenge to the state and maintain control over vast areas of rural Afghanistan, it would be equally unable to achieve its goals through force.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the truce was intended for the Eid holiday and would not affect the group’s larger objectives, which include the removal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
‘‘Since our people are under occupation, jihad is incumbent on us,’’ he said
Violence continued across Afghanistan ahead of the cease-fire.
In three provinces, more than 50 members of the Afghan security forces and progovernment militias were killed overnight Friday, The New York Times reported, citing government officials. An unknown number of Taliban fighters also were killed, according to the Defense Ministry.
Mohammad Haroon Chakhansuri, spokesman for the Afghan president, welcomed the cease-fire announcement in a news conference in Kabul, the Associated Press reported.
‘‘We hope that [the Taliban] will be committed to implementing their announcement of the cease-fire,’’ he said. ‘‘The Afghan government will take all steps needed to make sure that there is no bloodshed in Afghanistan.’’
‘‘The government of Afghanistan is hopeful that this process will become a long term process and will result in a sustainable peace,’’ Chakhansuri added.
‘‘You can’t end 40 years of war in a few days, but this is definitely the best chance for a peace process since at least since the US surge’’ of troops under former president Barack Obama in 2010-2011, said Vikram Singh, a former Pentagon and State Department official who is now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington.
There was no immediate response to the Taliban’s statement from the US military, which has a dual mission to support Afghan troops against the Taliban and, separately, conduct counterterrorism operations against extremists associated with the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.
Ghani’s cease-fire offer did not cover Afghan operations against the Islamic State or other hard-line groups.
The Trump administration has increased the number of US troops in Afghanistan in an effort to give local forces, which continue to struggle despite more than a decade and a half of outside support, a battlefield advantage.
It has also called for a peace process, but it remains uncertain whether American officials will resume discussions it has had intermittently with Taliban representatives since 2010. Under President Trump, the State Department office that oversaw attempted negotiations in the past was dismantled.
While the Taliban announced it would halt attacks in response to Ghani’s truce offer, it considers his government to be illegitimate and has said it would hold peace talks only with the United States rather than local authorities.
Singh said the Trump administration would now need to develop a strategy for kindling peace talks.
