Afghanistan: bomb attack kills three as Taliban ends partial truce

• Motorcycle with bomb explodes during football match
• Taliban’s week-long ‘reduction of violence’ expired on Saturday

Julian Borger in Washington
Mon 2 Mar 2020 16.45 GMT
Last modified on Mon 2 Mar 2020 18.35 GMT

Three people have been killed and 11 injured in a motorcycle bomb attack at a football match in eastern Afghanistan, as the Taliban announced an end to a partial truce two days after signing a deal with the US.

The Taliban had agreed to a week-long “reduction of violence” as a confidence-building measure ahead of the agreement signed on Saturday, in which the US pledged that all foreign forces would leave Afghanistan within 14 months, if the Taliban sat down for talks on Afghanistan’s future with government representatives.

The agreed “reduction in violence” expired on Saturday, but US officials had expressed hope it would be prolonged. The Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, committed to extending it at least until the scheduled start date for intra-Afghan talks, 10 March.

Those talks appeared to be in jeopardy on Monday, as the Kabul government said it had not agreed to the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners before the negotiations started, an offer made by the US as part of its agreement with the insurgent.

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