KABUL to the negotiating tablewill improve by 2016 fall.
Ali Ahmad Jalali said on Monday the militant movement did not have a strategic chance of winning."I think Taliban, despite (making) some tactical advances in 2015, have no future…”
The insurgents did not have a strategic opportunity to prevail, he explained in a speech to the Middle East Institute. The prospects of peace talks would improve by next fall, the ex-minister believed.
Exploiting the security gaps left by the withdrawal of international troops, the Taliban made some gains last year. "They made some inroads in the rural areas, but they were unable even to retain the areas they took," Sputnik quoted him as saying.
A four-nation group involving Afghanistan and the US, has been trying since January to jump-start peace talks between the Taliban and Kabul. But the rebels refused coming to the negotiating table.
"The longer the state continues to fight them, I think they less opportunity they will have to come back,"Jalali remarked, arguing the Taliban would be stay away from talks if they were in a position of strength.
PAN Monitor/mud
