Tweet
Taliban reject safe passage agreed in Islamabad meeting
ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban Saturday rejected the trilateral forum agreement in Islamabad to give safe passage to those Taliban willing to talk to the Afghan government.
In a message to Online, Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid termed the decision as an US tactic to surrender Jihadis.
In the wake of the Karzai’s administration quest for holding direct talks with the Taliban and the desire of Washington to resume the stalled talks with them in Qatar, the high-level delegation from the US, Afghanistan and officials from Pakistan met here on Friday to discuss the challenges and opportunities in reconciliation as well as peace in Afghanistan and other issues.
The meeting of the trilateral forum also known as core group agreed to form a sub-group at UN level to coordinate activities at New York and another group would comprises of experts to find out ways and means to provide the negotiable Taliban with safe passage including delisting their names from the UN terrorists’ list.
Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani, Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Luddin and US Special Envoy Marc Grossman made the announcement at a joint press conference at the Foreign Office after their sixth core group meeting Friday aimed at political reconciliation in Afghanistan.
Mujahid said that the defeating US and its allies was engaged in self-deception by applying such tactics. “The US and its allies are so far not recognized Mujahideen, who are not fighting for positions or greed. Rather we are doing Jihad as an independent nation and representatives of Pakhtuns for freedom.”
The US is on run and on the verge of defeat and it is trying to secure its status quo in the world, he said, as according to the meeting in Islamabad the Mujahideen would surrender in the name of reconciliation, he added. He said that they (the US and its allies) should not expect from anyone among the Mujahideen that they would surrender in the name of the reconciliation.
Taliban are denying talks with Kabul last month said it had suspended contacts with the Americans in Qatar over a prisoner exchange.Even the talks with US in Qatar was going on when Taliban made it clear that negotiations would never mean that intensity of attacks on foreigners would be lowered. And in the start of the spring this year they increased attacks across Afghanistan.
Taliban are willing for political process with the international community but as they had already told Online Confidence Building Measures are essential before reaching to the stage of talks for peace.
“We have not yet reached to the stage of holding peace talks with the international community. The focus is on initiation of CBMs before the talks for peace, consensus in this connection is in developing process but so far even implementation of the measures have not been started,” Mujahid said.
Releasing Taliban leadership detained Guantanamo military prison was one of the important conditions of Taliban for CBMs.
The US and the Karzai administration have special stake in the peace in Afghanistan and law and order situation also affect security in Pakistan while the war in the region have been negatively affecting development in the region.
ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban Saturday rejected the trilateral forum agreement in Islamabad to give safe passage to those Taliban willing to talk to the Afghan government.
In a message to Online, Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid termed the decision as an US tactic to surrender Jihadis.
In the wake of the Karzai’s administration quest for holding direct talks with the Taliban and the desire of Washington to resume the stalled talks with them in Qatar, the high-level delegation from the US, Afghanistan and officials from Pakistan met here on Friday to discuss the challenges and opportunities in reconciliation as well as peace in Afghanistan and other issues.
The meeting of the trilateral forum also known as core group agreed to form a sub-group at UN level to coordinate activities at New York and another group would comprises of experts to find out ways and means to provide the negotiable Taliban with safe passage including delisting their names from the UN terrorists’ list.
Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani, Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Luddin and US Special Envoy Marc Grossman made the announcement at a joint press conference at the Foreign Office after their sixth core group meeting Friday aimed at political reconciliation in Afghanistan.
Mujahid said that the defeating US and its allies was engaged in self-deception by applying such tactics. “The US and its allies are so far not recognized Mujahideen, who are not fighting for positions or greed. Rather we are doing Jihad as an independent nation and representatives of Pakhtuns for freedom.”
The US is on run and on the verge of defeat and it is trying to secure its status quo in the world, he said, as according to the meeting in Islamabad the Mujahideen would surrender in the name of reconciliation, he added. He said that they (the US and its allies) should not expect from anyone among the Mujahideen that they would surrender in the name of the reconciliation.
Taliban are denying talks with Kabul last month said it had suspended contacts with the Americans in Qatar over a prisoner exchange.Even the talks with US in Qatar was going on when Taliban made it clear that negotiations would never mean that intensity of attacks on foreigners would be lowered. And in the start of the spring this year they increased attacks across Afghanistan.
Taliban are willing for political process with the international community but as they had already told Online Confidence Building Measures are essential before reaching to the stage of talks for peace.
“We have not yet reached to the stage of holding peace talks with the international community. The focus is on initiation of CBMs before the talks for peace, consensus in this connection is in developing process but so far even implementation of the measures have not been started,” Mujahid said.
Releasing Taliban leadership detained Guantanamo military prison was one of the important conditions of Taliban for CBMs.
The US and the Karzai administration have special stake in the peace in Afghanistan and law and order situation also affect security in Pakistan while the war in the region have been negatively affecting development in the region.
Comment