MONITORING (SW) – The U.S Secretary for Political Affairs David Hale has summoned Afghan National Security Advisor Hamdullah Muhib to reject the public comments criticizing the U.S. approach to reconciliation in Afghanistan.
Muhib told a moot in Washington D.C. on Thursday he is visiting to share Kabul's concerns over secrecy in talks between the Taliban and the U.S. in which the Afghan government has been clearly sidelined. He categorically charged Washington's top man for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, for deliberately undermining Afghan government in the proposed peace talks.
“We think either the ambassador doesn’t know what he is doing, or he has something else in mind,” Mohib said, adding that Khalilzad had considered running for president of Afghanistan twice before. ''People in government think perhaps all this talk is to create a caretaker government of which he will then become the viceroy.”
Muhib also raised questions about ties between the the Taliban and Pakistan.
“What is the relationship (between the Taliban and Pakistan)? Has anybody asked and what does it mean? What will be the end of that relationship? Will peace in Afghanistan mean Pakistan no longer using proxies for their political objectives and terrorists. Will the UN raise that question of what the policy or non-state actors?” asked Mohib.
He was summoned for these remarks by the State Department.
''Under Secretary for Political Affairs David Hale summoned Afghan National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib today to reject the public comments attributed to National Security Advisor Mohib criticizing the US approach to reconciliation,” State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said after the meeting the between the two officials.
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