Next phases of peace talks be held inside Afghanistan: Mohib

KABUL (Pajhwok): National Security Advisor (NSA) Hamdullah Mohib on Saturday said next phases of the peace negotiations should be held inside the country.

In a Facebook post, Mohib said that the Afghan government was ready to negotiate with the Taliban inside the country wherever the insurgent group wanted.

He said that negotiating teams of the intra-Afghan talks were expected to go on a three-week long recess on the account of Charismas.

Mohib said the Afghan government had no issue with the venue of talks inside the country and the Taliban could choose any area they liked for negotiations.

Talks inside the country would help build people’s trust in the process and people would be able to observe what was going through negotiations, he said.

“Negotiators would be closely in contact with the people and aware about their problems, it would also prevent unnecessary expenses,” he said.

He said that the next phases of talks should be held in Afghanistan because so it would become based on conditions of the Afghans.

Peace negotiations outside the country could be affected by foreign conditions and could not ensure the interests of Afghanistan, he added.

Earlier, a member of the Afghan government’s negotiating team had told Pajhwok Afghan News that the team would fly to Kabul during the ongoing week.

The source had said that the negotiating team members had long stayed in Doha and both the teams had decided on a break.

Intra-Afghan talks between the Taliban and Afghan government started about three months ago.

mds/ma

Visits: 12