Kabul scorns NYT article as unwarranted, baseless

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Afghan government on Monday spurned as unwarranted and baseless a New York Times article titled “Afghan leader digs in on peace talks despite progress”.

President Ashraf Ghani had done everything possible to initiate and drive the process and would do everything within his constitutional power to end the suffering of the Afghan people, a statement from his office said.

Some of the views expressed in The New York Times article — based on known and unknown sources — were unwarranted and baseless, added the statement attributed to the government spokesperson.

It added Ghani had not just arranged the talks; he had done everything possible to initiate and drive the process and he would do everything within his constitutional power to end the suffering of the Afghan people and bring durable peace to the country.

The peace talks in Doha are an important opportunity to bring durable peace to Afghanistan. Ghani has been at the forefront of efforts to bring momentum to the peace talks.

According to the statement, the president took a courageous step to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners to give impetus to the talks — a move which was unfortunately not reciprocated by the insurgents.

Taliban’s response to that important gesture was an unprecedented hike in violence against the Afghan people.

Despite increased public demand for the government’s negotiating team to abandon the talks and return home because of Taliban’s major offensives in Helmand and Kandahar, the president took the bold step to continue the talks.

On the 24th of November, at the 2020 Afghanistan Conference, Ghani said: “The Afghan people, government and the international community share a vision of a sovereign, unified, democratic Afghanistan at peace with itself, the region and the world, capable of preserving and expanding the gains of the past two decades.”

The president added: “We have shown commitment, courage and conviction. We have maintained our defensive position on the battlefield, even in the face of a surge in violence against our people since February.

“We agreed to the release of over 5,000 Taliban prisoners guilty of crimes against humanity”, said the president.

“Over the past two years, Afghans created a national consensus on the need to achieve enduring peace via a political settlement with the Taliban– a peace that is in line with the values of our constitution and international standards of human rights.

“Despite our suffering, I want to be very clear that our commitment to negotiations with the Taliban remains firm. Our negotiating team remains steadfast in their commitment to talks in Doha. We must bring an end to the violence that is haunting our lives and robbing our children of the joys of childhood”.

The negotiating teams have agreed on all 21 articles that provide guiding principles for the negotiations. At this time, they continue to debate the preamble, in which some issues need further clarification.

The president is said to be steadfast in his resolve to make the peace talks a success, mainly because he initiated these talks and remains the main architect of the process.

pr/nh/mud

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