KABUL (SW) – Members of the Afghan government’s negotiating team in Qatar have said the matter of interim government is not on agenda for intra-Afghan talks here.
Rasool Talib, Ghulam Farooq Majroh and Sharifa Zurmati, the three member of the government’s negotiating team in Doha, told reporters at an online session that the peace talks had stalled. They cite the Taliban’s unwillingness to continue the talks as the reason for the halt.
Rasul Talib said that since the beginning of the talks with the Taliban, there has been no discussion about the interim government. “The Taliban have never raised this issue”, he said. He emphasized that if the Taliban have something to say about this issue, they should bring it to the table, not raise it from other countries.
Sharifa Zurmati, another member of the delegation, said that so far only three meetings have been held between the two sides since the resumption of second round of talks. She said at the first meeting, the two discussed the ceasefire, but the Taliban said they want to discuss it with their leaders.
She said the peace negotiators are now waiting for Taliban to return to negotiation table as the government has asked them to return to Kabul.
A former Taliban-era official, Syed Akbar Agha, said in this connection that the group has never raised the issue of an interim government, but it also does not want to join the current government. According to him, some “circles” inside the country raise the issue of the interim government for their personal interests.
According to him, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the deputy head of the Taliban delegation in Moscow, has expressed his feelings about the resignation of the president, and not all members of the group agree.
ENDS
