MOSCOW (Sputnik): The intra-Afghan consultations in Moscow give a clearmessage that all the participants in the event are united in the desire tosee the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan, Abdul Salam Hanafi,the deputy head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, told reporterson Wednesday.
“Today all Afghans say we do not need foreign forces in Afghanistan… Theconference is giving a strong message for withdrawing occupation forcesfrom Afghanistan,” Hanafi said.
Speaking further, Hanafi, said that the United States had promised themovement to withdraw half of US troops from Afghanistan by the end of April.
“Yes, the Americans told us that half of their troops will be withdrawnstarting the beginning of February until the end of April,” Hanafi, themember of the Taliban delegation at inter-Afghan talks in Moscow, toldreporters.
According to Hanafi, the schedule of withdrawal will be discussed at futureUS-Taliban talks. Speaking about the political aspect of the Afghansettlement, Hanafi said that he believed that any future government ofAfghanistan would never be secular.
“The future government will be an Islamic government… I believe that inAfghanistan a secular government is impossible,” Hanafi indicated.
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In late January, Afghan President Ghani vowed to try to remove all foreigntroops from the country.
In addition, an agreement on the possible withdrawal of the US forces fromAfghanistan was reportedly reached during recent talks between the UnitedStates and Taliban in Qatar.
The Taliban, for its part, pledged to prevent terrorist groups such as AlQaeda from using Afghanistan as a base to carry out operations in othercountries under the future deal.
