ISLAMABAD – Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah on Wednesday urged the US notto let the landmark peace agreement to fail amid resurging violence inAfghanistan.
In his usual annual Eid al-Fitr message, the Taliban leader outlined an11-point “policy and objectives” concerning the current state of affairsand recent developments in the country.
He vowed the Taliban would seek to have “brotherly relations” with Islamiccountries, neighborly relations with neighbors and to strengthenconstructive relations with all regional and world countries.
He also strived to assure Afghan male and female members of their duerights, social justice and welfare.
“The Islamic Emirate [the Taliban] is committed to the agreement signedwith America and urges the other side to honor its own commitments and notallow this critical opportunity go to waste,” he said while urging the USofficials to ”not afford anyone the opportunity to obstruct, delay andultimately derail this internationally recognized bilateral agreementbetween us and you.”
However, the Afghan Presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi rejectedHibatullah’s statement.
“On one end they [the Taliban] are ‘butchering’ our people and spreadhorror and on the other end talking about the peace agreement, this message[by the Taliban leader] is meaningless unless they make peace with themasses,” he said in a tweet.
A day earlier, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said rising numbersof civilian casualties in Afghanistan, with a disregard for internationallaw aiming at protecting civilians from harm, underscore the urgent needfor parties to halt the fighting and to refocus on starting intra-Afghanpeace negotiations.
It said the Taliban were responsible for 208 civilian casualties in April,an increase of 25% compared to April 2019 and at similar levels to March2020. Civilian casualties attributed to the government forces for April2020 numbered 172 civilians, an increase of 38% compared to April 2019 and37% higher than March 2020.
This came on the heels of yet another string of at least two gruesomeattacks on mosques in Parwan and Khost provinces on Tuesday evening.
The Afghan government held the Taliban responsible by creating environmentfor the so far unknown attackers killing at least 11 worshippers in thesetwo mosques. -AA