US seeks new talks with caretaker govt: Hekmatyar

KABUL (Pajhwok): Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) leader Gulbadin Hekmatyar says the US is seeking coordination with the caretaker government of Afghanistan and wants to launch bilateral negotiations on a new treaty.

Earlier, CNN reported that after a three months delay, high-level talks between the caretaker government of Afghanistan and the US were held in Qatar for the first time.

However, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as said nothing so far regarding the fresh Doha talks with Americans.

In his Friday’s sermon, Hekmatyar said America had started a series of parleys with the interim Taliban government at the level on intelligence officials.

“America is seeking an agreement with the Taliban and wants to hold bilateral negotiations like the Qatar meetings, covered by the remaining clauses of the Doha Agreement.”

The HIA chief insisted the Doha talks and the resultant agreement were a complete failure, unreasonable, unviable and incorrect, resulting in the current situation.

The Doha Agreement was signed between the Taliban and the Trump administration on February 29, 2020 to bring an end to the 2001-2021 war in Afghanistan.

According to Hekmatyar, the Doha talks were designed in a way that allowed only one group of Afghans to participate in the dialogue while all others were left out.

He said: “The main reason for the failure of those negotiations and non-compliance with the Doha Agreement was, in fact, that these talks were bilateral and other domestic and foreign influencers, including the puppet government in Kabul and Afghan parties, were excluded.”

European countries, including NATO members, were part of the negotiations but they were kept in the dark about the nature of the agreement, he alleged.

Hekmatyar went on to comment: “Rumors indicate that these negotiations started in Pakistan and then moved to Doha. Although agreements between the parties were not publicised, both sides suggested they had made concrete progress. Drone strikes the rocket attacks were reduced.”

Hekmatyar said the spike in weekly assistance to Afghanistan from 30 to 40 million dollars and even 80 million dollars were indicative of these agreements.

The HIA leader said external pressure on the IEA had reached its peak and propaganda had also surged considerably. UN officials and reports are a visible part of these pressures.

sa/mud