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KABUL: Some members of parliament ask the US not to hurry in withdrawal from Afghanistan, fearing the pullout may help the country turn again into a battlefield.
The US representatives sat for the fifth time with Taliban negotiators in Qatar, with the militants emphasizing on the quick US withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to reports.
The parliament’s defense committee on Sunday said that the premature US withdrawal is impossible because there is no guarantee that Afghanistan would not turn to a battlefield.
Ali Akbar Qasemi, deputy head of defense committee in the lower house said that the US withdrawal is the demand of neighboring countries expressed by Taliban.
“There is no guarantee and trust in the current situation. Our neighboring countries seek their own interests and don’t care who will suffer and who is killed. This is not the time for withdrawal,” said Qasemi.
He added that no Afghan wants the US to remain here for long time, and whenever there is a guarantee, they (the US) will leave.
The fifth round of negotiations between the US and Taliban began on Tuesday, and the two sides sat again face to face on Saturday in Doha after a two-day break in which they talked and consulted to their seniors.
This round of negotiations focused on the US withdrawal and that Afghan soil would not be used by terrorist groups to threaten the US and other Western states’ security.
“Sources close to Taliban told me that the group would not accept the US remains in Afghanistan more than a year, but the Americans want more time. But the media reports over a three to five year time for the US withdrawal is baseless,” said political analyst Wahid Mojda.
The US has now 14,000 troops in Afghanistan involved along with another 6,000 from other NATO member countries in training and advising Afghan security forces.
