Truce reports seen as a bid to derail peace talks

KABUL Omar was an attempt by foreign spies to sabotage the Taliban-US peace talks.

A media report says the United States has geared up efforts to convince the Taliban into declaring a ceasefire to bring the ongoing conflict to an end. But the Taliban said Omar’s reported decree printed in a local Pashto-language newspaper was untrue.

The decree dispatched to several media outlets on Monday quoted the Taliban leader as saying he had declared a ceasefire and had selected some figures for talks with the US. However, rebel spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, rejected the report as false.

Political analyst, Wahid Muzhda, believed the decree had been distributed by domestic and foreign spies to media organistaions in an attempt to derail the talks between the insurgents and the US.

“This step aimed at creating distrust between the two sides and weakening the Taliban’s morale,” he remarked, saying the fighters had already spelled out their stance on opening an office in Qatar and the ceasefire.

On January 12, the Taliban vowed to continue their armed struggle against the government and its Western backers despite reconciliation talks with the United States.

Another political analyst, Mohammad Hassan Haqyar, agreed intelligence agencies were involved in the circulation of the decree. However, he would not say which spy services were behind releasing the decree.

frm/ma/mud

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