An Afghan shouts "We want peace" during a march to mark the International Day of Peace in the city of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008. NATO's top general in Afghanistan has ordered all international troops in the country 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. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

The U.N. said tens of thousands of international and Afghan soldiers as well as Taliban militants ``all stood down from offensive military operations in support of the biggest International Peace Day effort that Afghanistan has known.''

Government officials around the country reported no violence, and several credited Peace Day efforts.

``Today is Peace Day. The soldiers are resting,'' said Abdul Jalal Jalal, the police chief in Kunar province, which borders Pakistan.

When asked if he had any reports of violence, U.S. coalition spokesman Sgt. 1st Class Joel Peavey said, ``Not at all.''

``It's crazy, but apparently the Taliban sent out an e-mail saying they were going to abide by it if we were, and we definitely are,'' he said. ``It's a great day to show Afghans exactly what peace is like and how their everyday life would be if they just booted out the bad guys.''

The day was not completely violence-free. Taliban militants attacked a security company guarding a road construction crew in the southern province of Ghazni, killing two guards, said the governor's spokesman, Ismail Jahangir.

Still, the push for peace was largely successful given that 2008 has been the most violent year in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban's hard-line Islamist government.

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

The U.N.'s special representative in the country, Kai Eidi, described the response as ``remarkable'' and urged all sides in the Afghan conflict to make peace a common goal.

NATO's top general in Afghanistan ordered all international troops to halt offensive operations from midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday in honor of the day. That order followed an announcement from Afghan President Hamid Karzai that Afghan troops would observe Peace Day.

A Taliban spokesman said its fighters would also lay down their guns Sunday.

Afghans around the country celebrated the day with sporting events, gatherings and marches. The Ministry of Public Health launched a polio vaccination campaign in which some 12,000 volunteers would vaccinate up to 1.8 million children from Sunday through Tuesday, the U.N. said.

The volunteers also planned to vaccinate in the violence-plagued south, where medical workers are routinely attacked. Afghanistan is one of only 14 countries in the world where polio exists, according to the World Health Organization.

In the northern city of Kunduz, a street that has seen three suicide bombs was rededicated as ``Peace Avenue'' during a Peace Day ceremony. In the central highland town of Bamiyan, Afghanistan's first Olympic medal winner led a march of Afghan orphans. Rohullah Nikpai won a bronze at the Beijing Olympics in taekwondo in August.