Afghan President Ashraf Ghani declared a formal end to his government's unilateral ceasefire with the Taliban on Saturday but called on the insurgents to agree to full peace talks following a three-day truce during this month's Eid holiday.
"It is now the Taliban's decision, whether they want to keep killing or join the peace process," Ghani told a news conference in Kabul where he repeated an appeal for comprehensive peace talks.
Ghani had ordered government forces to suspend offensive operations for 10 days after the Eid truce on June 15-17, which saw unarmed Taliban fighters mingling with soldiers, police and civilians on the streets of Kabul and elsewhere.
He said the ceasefire had been "98 percent successful".
Saturday's announcement means that Afghan security forces, which have adopted a largely defensive posture since Eid, can resume their normal operations against the Taliban as well as ISIS militants with whom there was no ceasefire.
On Friday, gunmen shot and killed a senior police special forces commander who was known as a dogged anti-Taliban warrior barely 24 hours before Ghani's ceasefire was to end at midnight Friday, the Defense Ministry said.
Azizullah Karwan was gunned down as he picnicked with his family in the Afghan capital Kabul, said ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish.
An Afghan official also said Friday that Taliban fighters killed 16 militia loyal to the government in an early morning ambush in northern Badghis province.
Abdul Aziz Beg, head of the Badghis Provincial Council, said the militia force came under attack as they arrived to help local police, who had been attacked by Taliban insurgents in the Ab Kamari district.
