Move quickly to ceasefire, US asks Afghan parties

KABUL (Pajhwok):  The United States on Sunday renewed its call for the warring parties to swiftly end the violence and agree to a political settlement to the conflict.

US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad tweeted: “We condemn the ongoing high level of violence … all those who authorise and carry out such attacks, creating terror and bloodshed.”

About Friday’s explosion at a religious gathering in Ghazni province, he said both the Afghan government and the Taliban must respect the demands of the people and agree on a political settlement.

“The news from Ghazni of the deaths of so many innocents, almost all of them children, is heartbreaking. We share the sorrow and grief that the victims’ families bear at this moment.”

He urged both sides to respect people’s demands and arrive at a political agreement as soon as possible. The US stood with the people of Afghanistan, he said.

The diplomat wrote the war and killings had no legitimacy in the eyes of most Afghans after the US-Taliban pact, the US-Afghanistan Joint Declaration, broad international support for peace and start of intra-Afghan negotiations.

Khalilzad asked all sides to reduce violence, move quickly to a ceasefire and deal with the menace of unexploded ordnance and mines across the country to save precious lives.

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