KABUL – Former senior member of Taliban said there has been “flexibilities”on both sides of the Doha talks, the United States and the Taliban, butaccording to him the two sides have “different perspectives” on details ofthe negotiations.
Talking to TOLOnews, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, Taliban’s ambassador toPakistan during their regime in Kabul, said Taliban is pushing for separatediscussions with US officials on “specific” issues around peace, while theUnited States wants to discuss all issues within a single framework.
“Taliban thinks that if a step is taken with us, then there should be astrong guarantee for it. They (Taliban) want to know that how much strongthis step is and what is the scale of support to it from the world. Itmeans that when we (Taliban) are assured that you tell the truth, then we(Taliban) will take the next step. But the US says that no, all issuesshould be adjusted in a single framework,” Zaeef explained as he talkedabout the future of the peace talks with the Taliban.
According to US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation,Zalmay Khalilzad, the United States and Taliban “made progress on vitalissues and agreed to agreements in principle on a couple of very importantissues”. Khalilzad held six-day talks with Taliban in Qatar last week.
Zaeef said Taliban is thinking about ways that would lead them to peaceand that the group “is no longer insisting on victory”.
Giving more details about the talks, Zaeef said Taliban is now adopting a“flexible approach” towards some key topics such as the structure of thefuture government in Afghanistan and that the group is prepared to see thepeace process reaches into a conclusion.
The former member of the Taliban said countries in the region can play arole in the Afghan peace process.
“If I were in Taliban’s position, I would do this long ago to at leastacknowledge regional countries so that they should not think that they areour enemies,” he added.
Zaeef noted that the appointment of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar as head ofTaliban’s political office in Doha is a good sign for the peace process.
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