Afghanistan Peace CampaignSaleh says that a US official assured him that it will harm the Taliban if the group violates ethical and political framework in the talks.
Saleh said that a senior US official has assured him that the US the Taliban and their supporters will harm if the group violates ethical and political framework in the intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha.
“I had a conversation with Senior Director for South and Central Asia at the US National Security Council Lisa Curtis. She assured that Doha has opened an ethical and political way to solve the crisis. If they want to violate the framework, it will harm them and their supporters,” Saleh said, narrating his conversation with Ms. Curtis.
The Taliban in an article titled “the peace spoiler group at the Presidential Palace” published on their website with a photo of Saleh hugging President Ghani during 2019 presidential election. The article reads that the “spoiler group” at the Palace is led by First Vice President Amrullah Saleh. But the Presidential Palace said the steps taken by the Palace show its willingness and interest for peace.
“We released over 5,000 Taliban prisoners and now the Taliban should show to the Afghan people and the world that they want peace and they want to stop killing the people of Afghanistan,” a presidential spokesman Dawa Khan Minapal said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General António Guterres has said that supporting the Afghan peace process is part of the responsibility of the UN.
“My first priority is the implementation of the global ceasefire and there are some positive signals. We the peace agreement in Sudan and we have now the political talks in Afghanistan,” Guterres said.
The contact groups of the negotiating teams of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban held their second meeting on Tuesday and agreed on guidelines and code of conduct of direct peace negotiations. The contact group held their first meeting on Monday.
Meanwhile, Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban’s negotiating team, said on Tuesday that a ceasefire will not be possible unless there is a decision on the future government in Afghanistan.
“We want these issues to be solved soon. We want a ceasefire. It is in the (US-Taliban) agreement. All Afghans want it, but if it is in a way that we don’t talk on it (future government) and we agree on a ceasefire while their administration (Afghan government) is there. This is not a reality,” Shaheen said.
“The contact group will finalize all topics under discussion and will share it with a meeting between the two negotiating teams,” said Fawzia Koofi, a negotiator of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
This comes as the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday said Washington is looking to completely withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by spring 2021. Pompeo said the unmilitary is on pace to uphold a February 29 agreement with the Taliban that aims to reduce American troops in the country to zero by April or May of 2021, according to interviews with Breitbart News. Pompeo however clarified that a complete drawdown is conditioned to Taliban’s complete termination of ties with the terror groups.
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Ghani said that peace will be restored in the country, but a peace that will honor the aspirations of the Afghan people.
He said that Afghanistan has experienced the collapse of the political system before, but this time the Afghan people and the government will not allow it to happen.
“We have witnessed the collapse of the system before,” said Ghani while speaking live at the graduation ceremony at Marshal Fahim National Defense University in Kabul.
“The Afghan nation will not allow the collapse of the Islamic republic system–at any cost,” Ghani said.
Ghani said that peace will be restored in the country, but a peace that will honor the aspirations of the Afghan people.
“The system will move on based on the will and determination of the Afghan people,” said Ghani.
The remarks come as the peace negotiating team representing the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is expected to travel to Doha on Friday where it will sit with the Taliban to find a political settlement to the deadly conflict.
Negotiators from the Taliban and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan are expected to convene their first meeting on Saturday.
The Afghan government on Thursday accused the Taliban of stalling for time in the peace talks, referring to the group’s recent claim that 100 Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government–and on the Taliban’s list–have yet to be released.
The Afghan government has denied these claims.