KABUL – Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a prominent Afghan mujahideen leader and headof the Hezb-e-Islami party, has said regional proxy wars have complicatedthe fragile yet rejuvenated peace process in Afghanistan.
Addressing a meeting at party headquarters in Kabul, the veteran leadersaid the US has reached conclusions that the presence of its forces inAfghanistan has resulted in nothing but financial and human losses.
“They want a deal with the Taliban implemented soon and without delay, andthe Kabul government officials have also been told that the agreement willbe implemented [despite their opposition],” he said.
Hekmatyar claimed the Afghan government wants to continue with the currentsituation by creating “obstacles to peace” to delay it until November’s USpresidential election. He added that India, due to its rivalry withPakistan, is not only dissatisfied with the peace process, but has begunsupporting local militias against it.
On the role of other regional countries, Hekmatyar said Iran has takenadvantage of the situation of war in Afghanistan by controlling up to 80%of the Afghan market, worth more than $10 billion a year, besides receivingan uninterrupted flow of water for irrigation in its southern and easternprovinces.
“China and Pakistan have a common and coordinated position on Afghanistan,not only do they support the peace process, rather they see it asbeneficial to their regional interests, especially if it leads to areduction in India’s presence in Afghanistan,” he said.
“Some Arab countries, despite close ties with the United States, oppose thecurrent peace process.”
He urged Afghans to keep unity among their ranks to avoid negativeconsequences of such complexities.
This comes in the wake of US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brienurging President Ashraf Ghani to commence intra-Afghan talks with theTaliban without any delay.
He discussed the need to start the talks during a phone call, officialstatements from Washington and Kabul said Tuesday.
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“NSA O’Brien had a great phone call with President @ashrafghani today todiscuss the need for intra-Afghan talks to start without delay. ReiteratedU.S. support for a sovereign, democratic, and unified #Afghanistan thatnever again serves as a source of international terrorism,” the US NationalSecurity Council tweeted.
In response to this, Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman for the Afghan president,said the two sides exchanged views on the prisoner swap issue.
“Ghani stressed the need for the start of the direct negotiation betweenthe Taliban and the government. Both emphasized the importance of acease-fire for a durable peace sustaining the gains of the past 19 years,and the US continued strong support for the Afghan security forces who havemade tremendous sacrifices for the Afghan people,” he said.
Peace talks still in limbo
Cracks emerged in the Afghan government’s negotiating team for proposedpeace talks with the Taliban just a day after Ghani issued a decreefinalizing 48 names for the talks Sunday.
Ghani’s former rival candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the HighCouncil for National Reconciliation, called the presidential decree aninfringement on the latter’s authority in this connection. Just a dayearlier, former President Hamid Karzai excused himself from being placed inthe official negotiating team for talks with the Taliban.
Amid stalled peace talks, the Taliban and Afghan security forces continuedto engage in deadly fighting, with both sides claiming to have inflictedheavy tolls on the opposite side. -Anadolu Agency
