KABUL (Pajhwok): Last week the Taliban strongly reacted to a possible delay in withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan as hinted by the United States and NATO amid hopes that an international conference in Turkey may achieve progress in the peace process.

In addition, the last week witnessed lower civilian casualties as compared to the past five weeks.

Important news last week:

• Biden: May 1 deadline is hard to meet
• NATO: Consulting on withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan
• Germany extends troops stay in Afghanistan by a year
• Taliban threaten attacks if US forces stay beyond deadline
• Russia: US should leave Afghanistan on May 1
• UN: Doha talks should be strengthened not weakened
• Afghan officials hope Istanbul meet to advance peace talks
• Afghanistan sees least civilian casualties last week

 Attacks and civilian casualties:

Seventeen civilians were killed and another 16 others were wounded in attacks in eight provinces —Kabul, Kandahar, Ghor, Nangarhar, Helmand, Paktia, Kunar and Kapisa — last week.

The government has said nothing about civilian casualties, but Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says 72 civilians suffered casualties in attacks by government forces in 13 provinces.

In the previous week, 24 civilians were killed and 59 injured in 15 attacks that also inflicted casualties on government forces and Taliban insurgents.

Security forces and Taliban also suffered casualties in these attacks but Pajhwok has no exact figures because authentic and credible information was not available to support facts and figures.

Different statements on troops withdrawal from Afghanistan:

US President Joe Biden indicated on Thursday that Washington will not be able to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by May 1 under the timeline agreed with the Afghan Taliban due to “tactical reasons”.

“It is going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline in terms of tactical reasons. It’s hard to get those troops out,” Biden said in his first press conference since taking office on January 20.

“We will leave; the question is when we leave,” he said. “But we’re not staying a long time.”

Asked whether he envisions US soldiers still in Afghanistan in 2022, the president said: “I can’t picture that being the case.”

Under an agreement negotiated by Donald Trump’s administration with the Taliban, the United States is supposed to pull out all its troops by May 1, nearly two decades after the invasion in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

The Taliban in turn promised to open peace talks with President Ashraf Ghani’s government, although there has been little sign of headway since the meetings began in September in Qatar.

The group also vowed not to allow Afghan territory to be used by “terrorists” — the original goal of the US invasion following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

NATO has not made a final decision regarding troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last Monday.

“All options are on the table and no final decision has been taken, but I think it is extremely important that allies consult closely,” Stoltenberg said ahead of the NATO ministers of foreign affairs meeting, which included Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the first time.

Germany paved the way for its troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond an April 30 deadline that the United States last year agreed with the Taliban after nearly two decades of war.

Lawmakers approved late on Thursday a new mandate which allows the German military to keep up to 1,300 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO mission until Jan 31, 2022.

The current parliamentary mandate for the German operation expires at the end of March.

But the Taliban said the shortest and appropriate way to a peaceful Afghanistan was implementation of the Doha accord. The group said they were committed to the peace deal and the US should also stay committed to it.

Meanwhile, Russia asked the United State to withdraw forces from Afghanistan on May 1 under the Doha agreement.

Hopes attached to Turkey conference:

Afghanistan’s ambassador to Turkey Amin Mohammad Ramin has expressed the hope that the Istanbul conference would help speed up the Afghan peace process and pave the ground for a ceasefire.

The Afghan ambassador made the remarks in an exclusive interview with the Turkish state run news agency Anadolu.

The envoy believed Turkey had the potential to advance the Afghan peace process and pave the way for a ceasefire at a peace conference in Istanbul next month.

Representatives of the Taliban, the Afghan government and prominent politicians are scheduled to attend the UN-sponsored meeting.

The conference will confer on a US-proposed inclusive and participatory government in Afghanistan, which has been shared with the Afghan government, politicians and the Taliban.

This comes as key world leaders last week called for an end to the war in Afghanistan through a political agreement in Moscow.

Masoom Stanekzai, the head of the peace negotiating team of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, however, said that the Istanbul meeting was important for speeding up the peace process. But he says not all issues will be resolved at this meeting.

According to him, if Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah attends the summit in Turkey, President Ashraf Ghani will also attend. The Taliban have not yet commented.

But President Ghani, referring to the US proposal last week, said Afghanistan has a clear and confident plan and is pursuing the same.

The Afghan president’s office says the only way to transfer power is through elections, as they do not want a power vacuum and chaos in the country.

Presidential spokesman Dawa Khan Minapal said the government had not shared any plans to hold elections in six months. He rejects caretaker governments, but says the timing of the election could be discussed.

Civil society efforts for peace:

Last week, a new movement called Save Afghanistan announced its presence in Kabul.

The movement’s leader, Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, a former Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, said the movement was set up to save the country from a 40-year crisis.

He said there was a need for people to join hands to prevent unrest in the country. He said he was not opposed to the regime, but that peace cannot come “in an atmosphere of exclusion.”

A public meeting was held in Nangarhar province last week. The participants supported the current system and opposed the formation of interim and transitional governments.

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