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Abdullah calls out Taliban for stalled peace talks
Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, on Thursday spoke out against the Taliban who he says has taken a “harsh stance” in relation to the current peace talks.
Addressing an event to mark the establishment of a commission for political parties under the HCNR, Abdullah said: “At this moment, the Taliban has taken a hard stance, which unfortunately is not helping the situation.”
"Our delegation is still in Doha and we are in contact and we hope this deadlock is only short term,” he said.
"We know that nobody will win through war," Abdullah said, adding that the same applied to peace - that "neither will anyone lose in peace."
“At this point, the Taliban’s stance is pretty harsh and this does not help as we proceed with the job at hand; they say that the prisoners should be released, the foreigners must withdraw, they should be dropped from the (UN) blacklist,” he said adding that the Taliban also want other conditions met before they will agree to a ceasefire.
On whether the Taliban has stuck to its commitments as per the agreement signed with the US in February last year, Abdullah said one of the preconditions was a reduction in violence. This has not happened, he said.
“One of the foundations of the agreement is a reduction in violence. Has it happened? Of course not,” said Abdullah.
Meanwhile, Afghan Foreign Minister Haneef Atmar also weighed in on the stalled peace process issue on Thursday and called on the international community to review legal options available in order to force the Taliban to stick to its commitments as per the Doha deal.
Addressing a press conference, Atmar said: “All our international partners reiterated that the Taliban must return to the peace process and restart negotiations; if they want the international community to trust them in the peace process, then they should stick to the commitments made in the Doha agreement.”
Atmar also stated that the new Biden administration is working with Afghanistan on a joint program regarding the peace process.
Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran's ambassador and special representative for Afghanistan met late Thursday with Georgette Gagnon, UNAMA’s deputy special political envoy for Kabul and they stressed the increase of cooperation with Afghanistan, the embassy said in a statement.
In this meeting, Qomi told Gagnon that Iran would support any initiative taken by the international community for Afghanistan.
In the meeting of Georgette Gagnon with Mr. Kazemi, the issue of narcotics and the presence of the private sector in Afghanistan were discussed, and Iran supports any constructive initiative of the international community for Afghanistan,” according to the statement.
Experts, meanwhile, believe the solutions of the United Nations to cooperate with Afghanistan's neighboring countries in consolidating stability and security can solve key issues such as terrorism and immigration.
Some experts consider strengthening Iran's partnership and cooperation with the UN for greater stability in Afghanistan is important and necessary.
However, Iran has not yet recognized the caretaker government of Afghanistan and has repeatedly emphasized the establishment of a comprehensive government in the country.
Over the past three years, Iran has established good relations with the Islamic Emirate, and trade between the two countries has increased.
Meanwhile, Tehran has previously opposed the appointment of a special representative for Afghanistan by the United Nations.
Ten people were killed by unknown individuals in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province on Thursday night, police said on Friday.
The incident happened as the victims were doing Zikr at a mosque in Shahr-e-Kuhna of Nahrin district, police said in a statement.
The statement said that they used to regularly go to mosques and monasteries at night after returning from work.
Abdul Ghayoor Khadim, a provincial police official, said that several people were arrested in connection with the incident, adding that an investigation was launched.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Serdar Muhammetdurdiyev on Thursday met with Chinese special envoy for Afghanistan, Yue Xiaoyong, the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan announced.
During the meeting, the sides discussed priority vectors of strategic interstate cooperation built on a long-term, mutually beneficial basis, as well as exchanged views on the implementation of previously reached agreements.
It was noted that personal contacts between the leaders of the two countries play a key role in intensifying the interstate dialogue, which give a strong impulse to further development and expansion of Turkmen-Chinese ties.
It was emphasized that Turkmenistan considers multilateral international platforms for maintaining stability in Afghanistan as an important factor in promoting sustainable improvement of socio-economic state of the neighboring country. The sides exchanged views on the preparations to the 5th meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan's Neighboring States to be held in Turkmenistan.
The interlocutors reaffirmed that Turkmenistan and China will continue to provide all-round support for the economic restoration of Afghanistan.
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