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KABUL: Afghanistan’s presidential palace (Arg) and the White House released different statements on a phone talk between President Ghani and his American counterpart on Kabul’s help in the freedom of two university professors.
President Ghani’s office cited President Trump as calling ceasefire as a precondition for the peace negotiations, while the White House and the US embassy to Kabul have not mentioned the truce in their statements.
The White House, the US embassy to Kabul and the US envoy for Afghan peace, Zalmay Khalilzad issued their statements after the Arg’s statement.
The conflicting statements sparked a large reaction by the social network users, who have accused Ghani’s office of lying.
President Ghani’s statement also said that Trump urged truce as a peace talk precondition and emphasized that the negotiations should be managed by Afghan government.
But neither the White House, nor Khalilzad touched these sentences.
“The president provided information of his seven-article peace plan to Trump and the US president emphasized on a ceasefire as precondition for peace talks and said that the process should be led by the government of Afghanistan,” Sediq Sediqqi, President Ghani’s spokesman said Saturday.
The White House statement said that Trump only thanked Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan as well as Qatari Emir for their cooperation in the prisoner swap.
“Ghani’s spokesman says that Trump had spoken on the ceasefire and Kabul’s management of the peace negotiations. The US needs to clarify this allegation,” said a social media user.
Arg also says that Trump in his 25-minute conversation, invited Ghani for an official visit to the United States.
