NATO’s top general in Afghanistan has ordered all international troops here to halt offensive operations Sunday in honor of a U.N.-backed day of peace. Even the Taliban is pledging to lay down their weapons for a day.

The order follows an announcement by President Hamid Karzai that Afghan troops would observe Peace Day by not taking part in any operations. He also called on armed militant groups to observe the day and “stop destroying their country.”

“I advised Afghan troops that they should respect this holy Peace Day, and they shouldn’t conduct any operation or fire unless they come under attack,” Karzai said in a statement Friday. “I advised the same thing to the international forces.”

NATO said its 48,000 troops will continue to guard personnel and military outposts but that it will not engage in offensive operations from midnight Saturday until midnight Sunday.

“The insurgents must be in no doubt that (NATO) will defend itself and the people of Afghanistan from offensive action by the enemies of Afghanistan,” NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.

“This has been agreed by the Government of Afghanistan and ISAF as a show of their mutual intent to bring peace to Afghanistan and an end to the insurgency that threatens to undermine the future peace and prosperity of the Afghan nation,” the statement said.

The separate U.S. coalition will also observe the day, said coalition spokesman Master Sgt. Mark Swart.

Sunday is the 26th anniversary of the International Day of Peace, a United Nations-backed push for a day of nonviolence and global cease-fire. The U.N. mission in Afghanistan in particular heavily promotes the day.

Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, said the U.N. hopes to vaccinate 1.8 million Afghan children over a three-day period starting Sunday in honor of the day.

“The aim of this whole process is to get peace back onto the agenda here. It’s as simple as that,” he said. “It won’t work through one Peace Day alone. We’re not naive about that. What you do with Peace Day is you provide a window, an opening.”

A Taliban spokesman identifying himself as Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press on Saturday that the Taliban supports the idea of Peace Day. Ahmadi said Taliban attacks are only a means of self-defense.

“We wanted peace in the past, we want peace now and we want peace in the future,” he said. “We are defending ourselves. The invaders are in our country, launching operations against us. Now that the Afghan government and their foreign allies are requesting peace for one day, that is nothing, one day, but of course we are respecting it.”

Edwards said Peace Day was an apolitical campaign and that he welcomed both NATO’s support and the Taliban’s support of the day.