Afghan Prez calls upon Taliban to enter into serious talks with govt

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has said, the Taliban should enter serious talks with his government. In a national address today, Mr Ghani said, Taliban must accept Afghans’ demand for peace. He added, the victims of this war are Afghans and the peace process should also be Afghan-led.

This comes following unprecedented marathon negotiations between the Taliban the US in Qatar last week. The US presidential office said, US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has assured Mr Ghani that the focus of the talks in Qatar was to find a way to facilitate peace negotiations between the militants and Kabul. Talking to reporters in Washington today, acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said that peace talks between the US and the Taliban were encouraging. His remarks came after Khalilzad was quoted as saying the US and the Taliban have drafted the framework of a deal which could pave the way for peace talks with Kabul. Mr Khalilzad reached Afghanistan yesterday after six days of talks between Taliban representatives and US officials in Doha.

Kabul has repeatedly complained of being excluded from the discussions in Doha. It has warned that any deal between the US and the Taliban would require Kabul’s endorsement. However, the Taliban has refused to speak directly to Ghani’s government.