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Afghan president names negotiating team for Taliban peace talks
GENEVA, Nov 28, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani on
Wednesday announced a 12-person team for prospective peace talks with the
Taliban, as the UN renewed calls for direct negotiations between Kabul and
the insurgents.
The Afghan government, Western diplomats and United Nations officials have
in recent weeks raised hopes of finally reaching a deal to end the Taliban’s
17-year fight.
At an international conference on Afghanistan in Geneva, Ghani said his
government had “formed a 12-person negotiating team, comprised of both women
and men, and led by presidential chief of staff (Abdul Salam) Rahimi”.
Ghani also laid out four principles that he said must form the backbone of
any agreement, including respect for Afghanistan’s constitution and the
rejection of interference in domestic affairs by foreign “terrorist” and
criminal groups.
US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who is believed to have held talks with the
Taliban in Qatar earlier this month, had been pushing Ghani to announce a
team for prospective talks.
Kabul has offered to meet face-to-face with the Taliban without
preconditions, but the insurgents have not yet committed to direct
negotiations.
In a message read to the conference from UN chief Antonio Guterres, deputy
under-secretary general Rosemary A. DiCarlo said: “We may have a rare
opportunity to move to direct peace talks between the Afghan Government and
the Taliban.”
“We must not miss it.”
Ghani said earlier this month it was “not a question of if, but when” an
agreement would be reached with the Taliban, while Khalilzad even raised the
possibility of a breakthrough before presidential elections in April.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1654 hrs