(The Kabul Times): US special peace envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has already arrived in Doha, capital city of Qatar. The government of Afghanistan says it closely follows the situation.Sediq Sediqi, a spokesperson to President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, says we’ll see how the talks begin and what will be results of the talks – we hope the ongoing talks between US delegates and representatives of the Taliban group will result in truce and starting direct talks between Afghanistan government and Taliban.US special peace envoy for Afghanistan in his recent tweet said: “We’re ready and let’s see whether Taliban are ready or not.”Nevertheless, Sediqi considered any kind of agreement between the two sides as early as the agreement has not been finalized and not shared with Afghanistan government so far.
Sediqi said that Taliban by continuing violence were trying to sabotage peace process, asking Pakistan and Taliban to play positive role in the process rather than sabotage the process.US secretary of state in a statement said the country’s special peace envoy for Afghanistan would consult result of the ongoing talks between US delegates and Taliban with leading body of Afghanistan government in Kabul and would also convince the Afghan officials to prepare for the intra-Afghan dialogue.Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump in his recent remarks has said that Afghanistan is a university for terrorists and US army’s role in Afghanistan has changed to a police force, adding that Afghanistan is a dangerous place and his country should keep part of the country’s forces in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan government has admitted that there are still increasing threats posed by various terrorist groups in the country and considered presence of US troops in the country as a need.In the meantime, a number of Afghan political experts do not believe if US and Taliban reach a final agreement in 9th round of talks in Doha as there is still gap between the two sides.“Some issues in particular the issue of presence of US troops in Afghanistan have not been solved. Both sides still have not reached any agreement in this regard; therefore, I don’t think both sides reached a final agreement in this round of talks,” said Khalid Sadat, an Afghan political expert.
Demand for truce is considered as real determination for maintaining peace in the country, but it is not clear whether Taliban accepts this demand or not.Increasing war and violence by the Taliban and increasing civilian casualties have raised concern among the people and Afghanistan government. It is worth mentioning that in the past 41 years, the people have experienced nothing except killing, destruction, migration and poverty. Afghans want to live in a peaceful environment like other nations of the world and it is now a good opportunity for all sides to put an end to the ongoing war in the country.