*US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation said in order forthe United States, the Afghan government and the Taliban to get to thispoint some very difficult, even heart-wrenching decisions had to be made. *
He said in an interview with Al-Jazeera that not only did the United Stateshave to make difficult decisions but so did Afghanistan.
This was in reference to concerns raised over whether the US government hasgiven the Taliban “too much weight” in the intra-Afghan negotiation process– especially in light of the release of 5,000 prisoners.
Recently foreign countries, specifically France and Australia objected tothe release of some hardcore prisoners who had been responsible for killingtheir nationals over the past few years.
But Khalilzad said the US itself had not been too happy about this but that“we [the US] appreciate their expression of unhappiness and empathize withthem but we think the goal of making Afghanistan to be more peaceful, forAfghans to come together to end the war, for Afghanistan not to be a threatto the international community and for the burden of Afghanistan to bereduced on the international community,” sacrifices needed to be made.
Read Top Stories
“Nothing important is easy to achieve, unfortunately. We had to do thosetough things, difficult things, heart-wrenching things to get where we are.”
He also said the US was satisfied that the objectives ahead were worth thesacrifices that have been made.
During the interview, he said not only are the current peace talks ahistoric moment and an opportunity for peace but also a moment of hope andhe continually emphasized the fact that Afghans are tired of war – a warthat has been ongoing for 40 years.Source: Ariana Newslink
