• A cease-fire offer in Afghanistan.

President Ashraf Ghani extended a trust-building measure to the Taliban before the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha this week. He said the conditional cease-fire would start today and extend “until Nov. 21, birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.”

There was no immediate response from the Taliban, which has staged a charm offensive of sorts in advance of the Islamic holiday — even as the insurgents, in the past week alone, have overrun cities, burned down government facilities and killed hundreds of their opponents. Above, a checkpoint on the Ghazni-Kabul highway last week.

The U.N., meanwhile, urged all sides of the Afghan conflict to protect aid workers delivering critical assistance to a population suffering the brunt of war and drought.