Govt-Taliban agreement on truce report found false

KABUL (Pajhwok): A report published by a fake facebook page ‘Peace Television’ about a ceasefire agreement between the Afghan government — Republic side — and the Taliban — Emirate —- during the upcoming Turkey Conference is incorrect.

A meeting of the Afghan government, the Taliban, the UN, regional and major powers representatives on Afghan peace process is expected to take place in Turkey this month.

Claim: Afghan government and Taliban ready to reach agreement on ceasefire

A fake facebook page named ‘Peace Television’ two days earlier published Pashto content full of spelling mistakes. The title of the content was Breaking News and it said: “Ahead of everything let us congratulate our bereaved Afghans that upcoming Ramazan will mark the end of 40 years old conflict.

The report quoted ‘a well-placed source’ as saying the Afghan government and the Taliban had agreed to enter ceasefire during Turkey Conference. This Ramazan will mark lasting ceasefire, congratulations to all Afghans and share the post as much as you could so that every painful Afghan hears the news.”

Some people believed in the incorrect news from the fake facebook page. Until now — 1:30pm Monday — 554 people on social media had shared the news with others congratulating people on ceasefire.

The Facebook page was sent questions but they went unnoticed.

Fact Check:

SabirMomand, spokesperson for the Ministry of Information and Cultural Affairs, said a private television named ‘Peace TV’ is registered with the ministry but it has not completed the registration process.

RaminAmini, Peace TV director, said this television is expected to start work in Herat but transmission has not yet begun.

When asked about a facebook post from Peace Television page he said this page is fake and they did not publish anything related to peace on their facebook page.

This comes at a time when hot discussions on several peace proposals have been submitted from different sides and the government.

These peace plans that include ceasefire will be presented in Turkey meeting the date and time of which is not yet finalized.

The High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) special committee has finalized a peace plan and handed over the draft to the council leadership for approval. This is also not clear when and in what shape the draft peace plan be approved.

According to the latest report from Pajhwok Afghan News, the US, Turkey, the UN and Qatar have presented a nine pointe shared principles to the Afghan government side and the Taliban ahead of the Turkey meeting.

One point of the draft says: “All Afghans have suffered from conflicts. We respect their sincere demands to end conflict and ready to accept their demands for durable peace and peaceful Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan’s embassy in Qatar said that Afghan negotiating team has shared its response, but the Taliban have sought two days to respond. The Taliban have not yet spoken about the nine point principles.

Outcome: Head of the Peace TV categorically rejected the publication of fake news regarding the government and the Taliban readiness for ceasefire and termed the page as fake.

Verdict: Incorrect

nh/ma