AT News
KABUL: A landmark U.S.-Taliban peace agreement has raised hopes for peace in Afghanistan. ‘Solidarity council of political parties’ on Tuesday welcomed the peace deal and said that they want an honorable and lasting peace rather than an inglorious treaty.
Republicans Party chief, Habibullah Sanjar, in a gathering in Kabul said that the Taliban’s statement regarding forgiving the people of Afghanistan is absurd, arguing that it is the Afghan nation who is to forgive the Taliban.
“We have not perpetrated the atrocities to be pardoned by them. They have cast agony upon us, but the Afghan nation is so generous to have invited them to the table of negotiations,” he said.
The council issued a statement, asking the government to safeguard the achievements of the past 18 years including the Republic system, the Constitution, women’s rights and freedom of speech.
A seven-day period of reduced violence began last Friday night in which neither side attacks. The period includes a moratorium on the roadside explosive devices, rockets and suicide bombers that have been the Taliban trademark and continued as recently as last month. If the weeklong mull is declared a success, U.S. and Taliban leaders will sign a deal in Doha, Qatar, on February 29 that begins the drawdown of American troops in exchange for Taliban vows to fight terrorism and stop attacks against the United States.