By Mohammad Arif Sheva in Khaama Press, 26 Nov 2020 at 03:45 PM
Mohammad Naeem Wardak, spokesman for Taliban’s political office in Qatar, says the Afghan and Taliban negotiating teams met on peace dialogues but had not yet reached to any agreement, denying reports that Doha talks have agreed on procedural rules.
In an exclusive interview with Khaama Press Thursday, Wardak said meetings between the two delegations have been underway for quite some times, but no agreement has been reached yet.
“The good news is the two sides have been meeting for a long time, but at the moment I cannot say anything about reaching an agreement,” he replied when questioned about the breakthrough.
Addressing the recent 2020 Geneva Conference, Wardak whined the Taliban had issued a statement a few days ago stating that the international community should continue to support the group.
But no response had been given to the statement and they had not been given a share in the conference, he said.
Meanwhile, the spokesman called Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Kabul important, saying that establishing relations with all neighboring countries would be beneficial for Afghanistan.
“It is important that all neighboring countries have good relations with Afghanistan, especially Pakistan that is Afghanistan’s neighbor; Good relations with this country are beneficial for Afghanistan,” he said.
When asked about the implementation of a ceasefire, Wardak answered it would be difficult to reach an agreement on the ceasefire until the causes and factors of the war are not identified.
“The war in Afghanistan has been going on for 20 years, but why didn’t people talk about ceasefire earlier, while innocent Afghans were being killed at that time as well,” he flinched?
Impacts of the Unites States Election on February Accord
In connection with the United States presidential election and democrat Joe Biden’s win, Wardark said their peace agreement was with the US government, not with President Donald Trump.
“The peace agreement was a big change and it stopped the war, it was not with Donald Trump, but with the United States government,” he clarified. “We believe that Biden administration will respect this agreement; but if the Biden administration does not accept this agreement, our war against the United States will resume and will continue until they leave Afghanistan.”
Comparing the Taliban then with that of now, the spokesman said, “twenty years ago, the Taliban gave the people their rights. During the Taliban regime, women were educated and served in the police force. The Taliban are still ready to give women their rights under Islamic law, but only when the Islamic system is established.”
He expressed hope that the intra-Afghan peace talks would soon reach a positive conclusion, but stressed the process would take time.
“We reached an agreement after two years of negotiations with the United States, so it will take some time to resolve the issue between the Afghans, because the war in the country has been going on for 20 years,” he elaborated.
In response to Khaama Press’ last question about the legitimacy of the current war in Afghanistan, Warkad said unless Afghanistan is freed from the occupation of foreign forces, this war will continue and will have legitimacy.
Addressing civilian casualties on the other hand, he said is true that innocent people are killed during the war, but this does not mean that civilians are deliberately targeted.
The war in Afghanistan would continue until an Islamic regime is established in the country and foreign occupation is ended, Wardak concluded.
https://www.khaama.com/peace-process-and-taliban-vision-for-afghanistan-exclusive-34534/
