Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: In the midst of political strife among the Afghan leaders on power sharing and the fragile peace talks, the Taliban – with whom the Afghan government is supposed to sit and talk over future landscape of the country – has said on Monday that the intra-Afghan talks may not be held on due time.
The group citing the oath-taking ceremony of the two top leaders, President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah – who on Monday announced the parallel government – has termed it as a reason for the possible delay in talks between the Afghan sides.
The US and Taliban had peaked a peace deal over a week ago in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, to pave the practical steps for troop drawdown in Afghanistan and bring the Afghans on one table, where they would discuss the fate of their country.
But the Afghan government and Taliban are still in an unabated reluctant phase regarding the peace process. After the US-Taliban peace deal, the militants have warned of continuation their attacks against the Afghan Security Forces, however before the agreement, the conflict sides had agreed on a one week reduction in violence. The Taliban have been insisting on releasing their 5,000 prisoner as a precondition before the intra-Afghan talks. But the US Administration has constantly called on the Afghan government and politicians to form a comprehensive delegation to continue the peace talks with the Taliban.
Looking at the current tensions between Ghani and Abdullah over presidency, the Taliban’s Spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid has said that he doesn’t “think that the Afghan government could implement the prisoner exchange process.”
Mujahid has told Reuters that no practical steps had been made regarding the prisoners’ release. President Ashraf Ghani has said that the negotiation team would be formed by Tuesday.
