...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
, and the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...claimed two IED attacks on government forces vehicles in Kandahar.
The incident in Balkh occurred when a police convoy struck a roadside mine, according to the MoI: "...A roadside mine in Chimtal district of Balkh province targeted a convoy of police and, as a result, one brave officer was martyred," said Nasrat Rahimi, a front man for the Ministry of Interior.
Also on Thursday afternoon one civilian was killed and 10 were maimed in twin blasts from IEDs placed on bicycles that detonated in PD6 of Kabul city. The Taliban claimed no involvement in this incident.
There were also two Taliban-reported incidents in Kandahar of government forces vehicles striking roadside mines. The group did not give any details about the casualties.
Local officials in Herat reported three security incidents in their province.
"Over the past 24 hours, three security violations were reported in districts in Herat. A retired colonel was kidnapped and there were some attacks and firing on the security forces in Shindand district," said Ghulam Jailani Farhad, a front man for the governor of Herat.
In the northern part of Afghanistan, a number of civil society activists came into the streets and announced their support for the reduction in violence plan.
"We hope that this one week (RIV) leads to a permanent ceasefire in Afghanistan," said Tahmina Aryan, a woman rights activist in Badakhshan.
"Casualties have significantly dropped, the people are very optimistic, now it depends on the politicians and how they want to take advantage of this opportunity so that the negotiations are started next week once the agreement (US-Taliban agreement) is signed," Sayed Qaribullah Sadat, a member of Pashtun-infested Logar provincial council, told TOLOnews.