Publish dateThursday 7 December 2017 - 10:50
Story Code : 154415
Afghanistan ready to host Taliban office: peace official
Afghanistan is ready to host Taliban office, the country's High Peace Council said Wednesday.

AVA- We urge Taliban leaders who live either in Qatar or Pakistan to take part in dignified negotiations. We are ready to give them office, as we gave to Hizb-i-Islami in Kabul,” Akram Khpalwak, the head of secretariat of HPC, said at a press conference in Kabul.

He said that the Afghan government is ready to start talks with the Taliban wherever the group wants. He added that the Afghan government will recognize Taliban office in Qatar or any other country if it accepts peace talks.

The peace official said that the Afghan government has no preconditions to open peace talks with the Taliban.

He said that the government is ready to enter into talks through whatever mechanism the group proposes.

The Taliban maintains a political office in Doha, the capital of Qatar, since 2013, but the Afghan government doesn’t recognize it.

“There is no Taliban office in Qatar, it is only that the Taliban are present in Qatar,” Khpalwak said.

Afghanistan has repeatedly called on Taliban to join peace, but the group has rejected the offer setting preconditions.

Khpalwak said that Pakistan, which accused of providing safe havens to Taliban, is not cooperating on Afghan peace.

Taliban is waging an insurgency in Afghanistan since 2001 when they were toppled by U.S. for harbouring al-Qaeda. In recent years, Islamic State militant group has also been claiming attacks in the country.

Khpalwak said that there is no peace plan with IS.

“Daesh is not an Afghan phenomenon… it should be eliminated,” he said.

Karim Khalili, the chief of HPC, also criticized some officials who said that the Taliban and IS are the same.

“Taliban is not Daesh… If we are not differentiating between Taliban and IS, we’re heading in the wrong direction,” he said.

Source : Afghan Voice Agency(AVA)
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