Members of the Ulema Council and the High Peace Council who were assessing demands of religious scholars on social reforms called on government and Taliban to agree to a permanent ceasefire before Eid al-Adha.

The demands and suggestions of religious scholars have been collected by a commission over the past few days.

“Our demand is that we hope there would be a ceasefire in Afghanistan today so that the people are saved from the war,” said Qiyamuddin Kashaf, head of Afghanistan Ulema Council.

“There were preparations for the ceasefire but there were some problems too. Considering this experience, we have good preparations for a ceasefire in Eid al-Adha,” said Mohammad Radmanish, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.

Despite criticism over flaws in some areas of the first ceasefire between government and Taliban, the High Peace Council said government is ready to call a ceasefire.

“Afghanistan’s delegation have visited there (Qatar), Afghan diplomats went there. Taliban are practically there (in Qatar) and this is important for the peace process,” said Akram Khpulwak, head of the High Peace Council’s secretariat.

In June, President Ashraf Ghani announced a ceasefire with the Taliban after a religious scholars meeting in Kabul issued a fatwa against the ongoing war in the country.

In a reciprocal move, the Taliban, on June 9, said in a statement that it had ordered its fighters not to clash with Afghan security forces for the first three days of Eid.

In the statement sent to the media, the Taliban said its fighters would not launch attacks against Afghan security forces but that they would defend themselves if necessary.