KABUL – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday offered the Taliban thepossibility of opening an office in Afghanistan but the proposal wasswiftly spurned by the group that is determined to keep his government outof accelerating peace talks.
Ghani has expressed alarm at the Taliban shutting his administration out ofnegotiations with the United States as well as recent Moscow talks withAfghan opposition politicians, and repeated earlier offers to give thegroup a secure official address to aid any future diplomacy between the twosides.
“If the Taliban want an office, I will give it to them in Kabul, Nangarharor Kandahar by tomorrow,” Ghani said while visiting the province ofNangarhar, a hotbed of insurgent violence on the border with Pakistan.
“We will bring a lasting and honorable peace to the country,” he said.
Nangarhar is a stronghold of the Taliban, the hardline movement that nowcontrols or contests districts across nearly half the country, more than 17years since they were toppled from power.
Taliban officials in Moscow last week stressed the importance of a formaloffice among a string of demands that included the removal of Westernsanctions and travel bans on Taliban members, prisoner releases and an endto “propaganda” against the group.
Taliban spokesman Sohail Shahin later told Reuters that the focus wasinternational recognition of their existing site in Doha, Qatar.
On Sunday he said Ghani was trying to harm the peace efforts with hislatest offer.
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“Our demand about having an official political office is clear, we wantthat our office in Doha is recognised by the international community andthe United Nations,” Shahin said.
“By this, Ghani is trying to change the topic and harm the on-going peaceefforts.”
Taliban negotiators are due to meet US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad foranother round of talks in Qatar on Feb. 25.
The talks are expected to center around a ceasefire to end America’slongest war and the withdrawal of foreign troops.
Some 14,000 US troops are based in Afghanistan as part of a US-led NATOmission to train, assist and advise Afghan forces. Some US forces alsocarry out counter-terrorism operations.
