Afghanistan Times
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U.S. troops may withdraw anytime
AT News
KABUL: Former Spy Chief, Rahmatullah Nabil said that the Istanbul meeting may delay as the U.S. discussing the extension of its military presence in Afghanistan with the Taliban and Pakistan.
“But the extension will be just for settlement/implementation of the Istanbul Conference’s decisions, not for U.S. simply delaying withdrawal as U.S. can withdraw anytime,” Nabil said in a series of tweets.
Discussion over 90-days of violence, offered by the U.S. to the Afghan and Taliban to reach a political settlement, would be also sorted out, Nabil added.
After the Taliban representative and the government delegation in Doha engaged into recriminations and the intra-Afghan negotiations didn’t make any progress in peace, the U.S. presented the two sides with a new proposal, aiming to find a political solution for the Afghan war and withdraw its forces the country.
The scheme was shared with the Afghan government and the Taliban by the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad.
However, Nabil believes that the Taliban would present their demands for the U.S.
“In return Taliban will insist on the following big concessions: 1- Release of all their remaining prisoners. 2- Removal of Taliban from UN and other sanctions, blacklists etc. Ghani’s removal is no longer a key demand from the Taliban, he added. “Since most other key stakeholders have concluded he has to step down as a sacrifice for the process.”
According to Nabil, the transitional government and power-sharing would be discussed after the involved parties reach a solution in this regard. He also spoke of the possibility of changing the Resolute Support mission to UN- Peace Keeping Forces with some additional forces from some Muslim countries.
“It is also possible that Afghan Special Forces and the Taliban’s Special Force Unit (Qeta-e-Surkh) would be set up under the umbrella of UN-peacekeeping forces under the auspices of the United Nations and the leadership of an Islamic country such as Turkey or another Islamic country to monitor the decisions/political arrangements of the Istanbul Conference.
He also expressed frustration on the possible conflicts with spillover effects to the region and other parts of the world, including massive refugee flows to the region and Europe.
