KABUL – Afghan Taliban reveal condition for peace talks with Afghangovernment.
A spokesman of the Taliban political office in Qatar, Suhail Shaheenwhile talkingto Al Jazeera in an interview said the Taliban is ready for negotiationswith Afghans, but a ceasefire will be possible when all foreign forcesleave the country.
The two sides held nine rounds of talks over the last year. US chiefnegotiator Zalmay Khalilzad led the talks from the United States side whilethe Taliban team was led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy leaderof the group, and Abbas Stanekzai, former head of Taliban’s politicaloffice in Doha.
Mr. Shaheen said that at first, it was decided to reduce violence when theUS starts withdrawing its forces from the country. He said they wanted toprovide the US a “safe passage” for withdrawal.
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According to him, the two sides were discussing the venue and date of thesigning ceremony of the peace deal when Mr. Trump tweeted about stoppingthe talks with the Taliban.
“About other Afghans, we are ready to talk with them if there is ceasefirewith them, there will be no attack [against] them. This is another aspectof the Afghan issue,” Mr. Shaheen said.
