KABUL – The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation ZalmayKhalilzad on Saturday reacted to a comment by the Taliban on rejecting ofhis call for laying down their arms and stopping violence as part ofefforts to move forward the ongoing peace process.
In a tweet on Friday, May 3, Khalilzad said that on the opening session inQatar, he underscored to the Taliban that it is time to quit violence andembrace peace as it is a demand of Afghans, TOLO News has reported.
“In our opening session, I underscored to the Talibs that the Afghanpeople, who are their brothers and sisters, want this war to end. It istime to put down arms, stop the violence, and embrace peace,” Khalilzadsaid in the tweet.
However, a Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a tweet in responseto Khalilzad that “the US Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad should forget about theidea of putting down our arms, adding that instead of such “fantasies” heshould drive the idea home about ending the use of force and incurringfurther human and financial losses for the Kabul administration”.
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Khalilzad, who is holding the sixth round of talks with Taliban members inQatar, responded to the comment on Saturday and said laying down arms isthe outcome of any peace process.
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