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Afghan NSC Rejects Reported Contacts with Taliban
National Security Council Office denied it made contacts with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, following a report in which said two Afghan top security officials have conversations with militant leaders nearly every day and month.
“The peace process is being advanced by the High Peace Council and the contacts in this regard are made through HPC,” National Security Council Office said in a statement Wednesday.
“National Security Council Office supports peace efforts of HPC,” it added.
The statement comes after Associated Press reported that Afghan Intelligence Chief, Masoom Stanikzai talks by telephone with Taliban militant leaders nearly every day about the country’s constitution and political future.
In addition, the country’s National Security Adviser, Hanif Atmar, speaks with the militants every other month, the report said citing unnamed officials and documents.
The news agency cited the unnamed Afghan security official as saying, the Taliban wanted certain amendments to the constitution — although not immediately. They also envisioned an Islamic system of governance in Afghanistan.
The Taliban’s other demands cited as follows, according to the official:
— They accepted education for boys and girls at all levels, but wanted segregation by gender.
— Women could be employed in all fields, including defense and the judiciary, and they could serve as judges at all levels except the Supreme Court. However, the Taliban wanted constitutional guarantees that a woman could not be president.
— Special courts should be established to oversee thousands of cases that allege land was taken illegally by the rich and powerful in the post-Taliban era. Many of the land owners are former warlords who are now in the government. The Taliban wants the land returned to those from whom it was taken.
— Elections could be held after an interim government is established, with no one affiliated with past governments allowed to serve in the interim administration. The Taliban said all sides could keep areas currently under their control until voting is held.
In reaction, the First Deputy Speaker of Afghan Parliament, Mohammad Alam Ezadiyar said: “The outcomes of any conversation should be shared with the people, because experience shows secret conversations are not in favor of the country.”
Some Afghan political analysts, however, say the Constitution should be considered as red line in talks with the Taliban.
“The Constitution should not be victimized” in [peace process],” Political Analyst, Moeen Mrastiyal said.
Former president Hamid Karzai said in a meeting with Iran’s ambassador and special representative, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, that education of girls was a “vital issue” for Afghanistan.
Karzai said he appreciated Iran’s cooperation and its standing with the Afghan people, especially Iran’s contributions to education in Afghanistan.
During the meeting, Karzai said peace and stability in the region are in the interest of all regional countries.
A shipment of humanitarian aid from Uzbekistan was handed over on Thursday to the local officials of Balkh province in the trade port of Hairatan.
Local authorities said the aid, which includes flour, oil, wheat, sugar and meat, has been handed over by Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya governor to the governor of Balkh.
The governor of Surkhandarya stated the purpose of sending this aid was to support the people of Afghanistan and stressed the need for the development of good relations between the two countries.
Islamabad’s special envoy for Afghanistan Asif Durrani said on Wednesday that Pakistan has suffered more due to Afghanistan’s internal situation than Pakistan has suffered in three wars with India in terms of blood spilt and finances drained.
Durrani said at a one-day International Conference titled “Pakistan in the Emerging Geopolitical Landscape”, which was organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), that over 80,000 Pakistanis died in the two decades of the War on Terror and that his country was still counting its dead and injured.
“After the withdrawal of NATO forces, it was hoped that peace in Afghanistan would bring peace to the region. However, such expectations were short-lived,” he said.
He also stated that attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group on Pakistan’s border areas increased by 65 percent, while suicide attacks increased by 500 percent.
“The TTP’s enhanced attacks on Pakistan while using Afghan soil have been a serious concern for Pakistan. Another worrying aspect is the participation of Afghan nationals in these attacks,” he said.
Durrani also said Pakistan had suffered geopolitically since the Soviet Union invaded the neighboring country.
“The post-9/11 world order has negatively impacted Pakistan. Apart from losing 80,000 citizens’ lives, including 8,000 law enforcement agency personnel, the country’s economic opportunity cost is estimated at $150 billion,” Durrani said.
Talking about the future outlook for Pakistan in the regional context, Durrani said that while “our eastern neighbor is likely to continue with its anti-Pakistan pursuits, the western border poses an avoidable irritant in the short to medium term.”
However, he said Pakistan can overcome its difficulties with Afghanistan, including the TTP challenge.
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