KABUL – The United States welcomes Afghan plans for peace talks with theTaliban but will keep up pressure on the terrorists until they areconcluded, the US ambassador said Thursday.
After an international peace conference in Kabul, Afghan President AshrafGhani on Wednesday unveiled a plan to open talks with the Taliban,including eventually recognising them as a political party.
In the first US reaction, ambassador John R. Bass hailed Ghani’s “verycourageous stand” and his “commitment to pursue a peaceful settlementthrough talks” after more than 16 years of conflict.
“We reinforce our call to the Taliban to begin direct talks with the Afghangovernment with no preconditions,” Bass said.
“We have called on the Taliban to cease violence and we all wait to see howthey will respond” to the conference declaration on the Kabul Process.
“They have indeed been feeling the pressure on the battlefield, thepressure on their drug revenues and their financing,” he said speaking toforeign correspondents in the Afghan capital.
“With this unified call they are now feeling more pressure from a range ofregional actors. But until we do see results we are going to continue tosupport the Afghan forces,” the ambassador stressed.
Since November, the US military has increased its air raids against Talibanpositions, training camps and their heroin laboratories, which are animportant source of revenue.
There has been no immediate response to Ghani’s offer from the Taliban.
However the group’s spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid criticised The KabulProcess, tweeting that the conference sought the Taliban’s “surrender”.
Bass said it was “a pretty significant achievement indicating that all thecountries of the region want the conflict to be resolved and all areprepared to help,” including Pakistan which is regularly accused ofsupporting the insurgents.
The peace offer comes one month after a wave of deadly attacks hit Kabul atthe end of January.
Representatives of more than 20 countries, including the US, as well as theUnited Nations, took part in the second meeting of the Kabul Process, whichGhani initiated last June. -APP/AFP