Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: The Afghan ambassador to the United States has reacted to a recent statement released by the Taliban insurgents, in which they called for dialogue to end the war.
In a letter addressed to the Americans, the Taliban said that they wanted to end Afghanistan’s 17-year war through talks, but warned the message should not be seen as a sign of weakness.
“Taliban’s open letter is not for aimed at American audiences. It is their master’s propaganda to garner domestic support for the Taliban. The conclusion clearly indicates Taliban’s loss. They see their end is near. It’s a face saving way of asking for a truce,” Afghanistan’s ambassador to U.S. Hamdullah Mohib said in his twitter account.
The envoy said that the Afghan government has always had an “open arms approach” to peace and will be happy to reintegrate all those Taliban that “repent their actions and seek forgiveness from the Afghan people for their atrocities committed against a peace loving innocent civilians.”
Taliban insurgents are in doldrums after the US administration announced new strategy in August of last year with coming up to the fore with more operation against Taliban insurgents—especially to target them (militants) from air. The US forces in Afghanistan already increased air operation against militants. However, the Taliban insurgents responded to the more aggressive U.S. strategy with two attacks in Kabul in the past few weeks, in which nearly 150 innocent people martyred and hundreds other received injuries.
Following the attacks, U.S. President Donald Trump rejected idea of peace talks with the Taliban, with Kabul saying that the group lost chance for peace.
In response to recent Taliban statement, a spokesman for NATO’s mission in Afghanistan said the recent Taliban attacks on civilians showed that they were not ready to enter “good-faith peace negotiations.”
“The Taliban statement alone does not show willingness to engage in peace talks. The recent attacks speak louder than these words,” Captain Tom Gresback said.
