Afghans rally for peace as violence continues: UN's International Day of Peace marked

Hundreds of people rallied across war-scarred Afghanistan Friday to call for an end to violence on the United Nations' Day of Peace, as fighting linked to a Taliban-led insurgency continued. The UN mission in Afghanistan said events were held in major cities on a scale not been seen before and President Hamid Karzai delivered a radio address to mark the day.
"Afghanistan feels bound as a United Nations family member to spare no endeavours for permanent peace in Afghanistan, the region and in the world and uprooting the causes that damage peace," Karzai said. In the capital, about 1,500 people gathered for an event including kite-flying, singing, and prayers for peace, a UN statement said.
Doves were released, schools were painted white, blue peace banners and billboards proclaimed peace and a major city square was renamed "Peace Square." In the eastern city of Jalalabad at least 500 people joined a peace march, the statement said.
In the central province of Bamiyan around 200 people took part in a clean-up of the Band-i-Amir national park and around 2,000 people marched from the UN offices to the site of the giant Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. "Today is an achievement for all people of this country. The demand for peace is overwhelming," the UN deputy special representative in Afghanistan, Bo Asplund, said in the statement.
The UN's International Day of Peace is marked around the world but Afghanistan has been a focus this year, with Hollywood actor Jude Law kicking off the build-up to September 21 in mid-July. But on the Day of Peace, the violence linked to a Taliban insurgency continued. A French soldier was killed in a suicide attack in the capital and around 40 rebels were killed in a military strike in the south, security officials said.