Afghanistan Times
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In connection with his assignments to help in resolving of Afghan conflict, the United States especially envoy Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad is going to embark on seventh round peace talks with the Taliban members camping at Doha, Qatar, ext week, media reports states, All these four points are included, US forces withdrawal from Afghanistan, counterterrorism assurances, a ceasefire and direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. All these main key issues are being discussed by two sides in previous couple of sittings, especially in a prolong session at Doha Qatar. On concluding of his prolong session at Doha, Khalilzad has issued a statement, projecting his dismay over reluctance of Taliban even of declaring a brief ceasefire during Eid Ul Fitre like of 2018 last. However, now Khalilzad is hopeful of some advancement as the analysts familiar with Doha talks and the peace process said the Taliban will be given “a number of privileges” in this round of the talks. “The Americans have decided to give the Taliban some privileges to take the negotiations out of the current situation,” said Wahid Muzhda, a Kabul-based political analyst. The peace talks have been faced with many deadlocks over the past seven months since Khalilzad started his efforts on behalf of the US government. However, last time in May, Khalilzad said the talks are making “slow” but “steady” progress. Khalilzad arrived in Kabul last week and since then he has held consultations and talks with Afghan government leaders and members of the civil society, the youth and women. There are reports regarding willingness of Norway for hosting an intra-Afghan dialogue session after the US-Taliban talks in Doha. In this respect, reports indicates that the former spy chief and a vice presidential candidate Amrullah Saleh and head of President Ghani’s office, Salam Rahimi, have been invited. But, according to political analyst Nazar Mohammad Motamaeen, the Taliban has decided not to attend the meeting due to the possible presence of the two key officials. Despite that, Khalilzad said in a tweet on Friday that Norway has a long-standing history in helping Afghanistan and great expertise in facilitating negotiations. The US envoy said that intra-Afghan peace negotiations could benefit from Norway’s support. The Taliban’s willingness and refusals on attending meetings on peace has created doubts among critics and some lawmakers, who say the group does not seem “interested in peace”.
“So far, the Taliban has not accepted democracy and they have not shown any green signal to an end in the war or to a ceasefire,” an Afghan lawmaker Abdul Rauf Inami said. This comes as President Ghani said at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kyrgyzstan this week that breakthroughs in the peace process will take time. No one can undermine external influence on Taliban, which is considered biggest hurdle in all efforts aimed at return of peace and tranquility in war-ravaged motherland. The US Special envoy whenever landing in Afghanistan and Qatar has always eyeing also on involvement of Pakistan and other regional and neighbouring countries. At the moment, Haqqani Network considered major force behind continuous violence in Afghanistan is rooting in neighbouring Pakistan. It is the time for US to convince Pakistan for dislodging/preventing all militant groups of conducting terror and violent acts in Afghanistan. Key to resolution of Afghan conflict is resting with the external regional and neighbouring countries, therefore, Khalilzad and rest of US and UN official needs to focus on cure of the illness already diagnosed.
