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KABUL: The US Chargé d’ Affairs Ross Wilson said that the US supported a democratic, sovereign and united Afghanistan in peace with “itself and its neighbors”.
“The intra-Afghan negotiations should and will be Afghan owned and Afghan led,” Wilson said, following the three days consultative Loya Jirga’s decision to set free the 400 Taliban prisoners to lay out direct talks between the Afghan sides.
The talks were set to be held after a ten-day period of time from the US and Taliban preliminary peace deal signed on February 29th in Doha, laying out the drawdown of the American troops in Afghanistan from 13,000 to roughly 8,600. The US supported two important outcomes of the intra-Afghan negotiations, Wilson said. “First, a democratic, sovereign and united Afghanistan in peace with itself and its neighbors. Second, preservation and advancement of the political, economical and social gains of the past 19 years.
He said that the US remained committed to the enduring partnership with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
Wilson’s remarks come amid a highly optimism on the Afghan peace process as the Taliban welcomed the decision of the Loy Jirga regarding the release of its fighters, whom President Ashraf Ghani said could have not been freed due to their involvement in big crimes such as murdering, robbery and rape charges. The militants said that intra-Afghan negotiations would be kicked off after one week from the release of their all 400 inmates.
But the Afghan government said that the intra-Afghan negotiations would be started within three to four days.
