Taliban Rejects Afghan President’s Proposal For New Election

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Ashraf Ghani

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
March 24, 2021

The Taliban has flatly rejected a proposal by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to hold snap elections within six months or a year right after a peace deal is signed with the militant group.

Ghani will unveil details of his proposal at an international peace conference in Turkey in April, according to a senior Afghan government official who spoke to RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan on March 23.

Under Ghani’s proposed plan, the Afghan official told RFE/RL, a presidential election could be held in six months or a year under the auspices of the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States, if the Taliban agree on a cease-fire.

The official said that the Afghan president had submitted the plan to U.S. officials, who are still “deliberating.”

Ghani’s current administration would remain in place until the vote is conducted, but Taliban members could join the government as well as Afghan security and defense forces.

The source added that in order to remove possible suspicions of vote rigging and Taliban concerns, Ghani and his two vice presidents, Amrullah Saleh and Sarwar Danish, are ready to decline running in the elections.

The Taliban immediately rejected the proposal.

“Such processes (elections) have pushed the country to the verge of crisis in the past,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in reaction to Ghani’s reported plan.

“They are now talking about a process that has always been scandalous,” Mujahid told AFP.

“We will never support it,” he said, adding that any decision on the country’s future must be agreed in the current negotiations between the militants and the government that are currently under way in Qatar.

Under a deal reached by Washington with the Taliban last year, the U.S. troops would withdraw by May 1, although President Joe Biden said earlier this month the deadline would be “tough” to meet.

The Taliban’s reaction to Ghani’s proposal comes after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NATO on March 23 that Washington is still weighing up whether to withdraw its troops by the May 1 deadline.

Ghani was sworn in as president for a second five-year term in March 2020 after a disputed presidential election.

With reporting by AFP

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

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UN Envoy Urges Patience for Afghan Peace Deal

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Margaret Besheer
VOA News
March 23, 2021

The U.N.’s top diplomat in Afghanistan sought to lower expectations of a quick peace deal between the Afghan government and Taliban, saying Tuesday that peace is possible, but it will not come immediately, as “genuine and profound differences” exist between the two sides.

“Afghans and their international partners have begun to voice understandable frustrations about the lack of real outcomes, against the incredible backdrop of extreme violence throughout the country,” said Deborah Lyons, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). “It is notable, however, that both sides in the negotiations have been dedicated to remaining at the negotiation table in Doha and continue with the talks.”

Peace negotiations began last September in the capital of Qatar. She told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council that progress has slowed recently and several countries have tried to reinvigorate the peace process.

The United States is among them, suggesting a meeting in Turkey of senior Afghan leaders in the coming months. In Moscow, the extended “Troika” of Russia, China, the United States and Pakistan, met last Thursday. Also last week, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed veteran French diplomat Jean Arnault as his personal envoy to work in tandem with Lyons to enhance support for the negotiations among Afghanistan’s neighbors.

Lyons said there are issues which will require time and patience for the government and Taliban to resolve, but she believes “peace is possible.”

“Afghans are not just ready for peace, they are demanding it,” she said. “And all sides need to stop the violence and need the violence to stop.”

Targeted killings

Violence in Afghanistan has reached unprecedented levels since the talks began. In the first two months of this year, the U.N. mission recorded the deaths of more than 80 civilians – many of them in targeted attacks. Victims have included media, civil society, members of the judiciary, religious scholars, government officials and last week, a three-year old child.

“These attacks are meant to dissuade the participation of women and youth in the peace process, create widespread panic, and crush our aspiration for peace,” said Afghanistan’s U.N. Ambassador Adela Raz.

Raz and U.N. Security Council members have been emphatic that Afghan women must participate in large numbers in the peace talks, and that any final deal preserve the gains they have made over the past twenty years. Only four women have been present at the table in Doha.

“We must do more to support the women and girls of Afghanistan,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. “Any agreement must preserve their gains if Afghanistan wants to ensure the international community’s continued political and financial support. We will not give an inch on this point.”

Council members also expressed concern about the intensifying humanitarian crisis in the country. The U.N. warns that more than 18 million Afghans may need assistance this year – double the 2020 figure. This would make it the largest humanitarian crisis in the world – surpassing Yemen which is on the brink of widespread famine.

The United Nations says 40% of the Afghan population is enduring crisis levels of food insecurity due to a combination of conflict, drought and now COVID-19. It has asked donors for $1.3 billion in aid but has only received 6% of the funds needed.

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MPs warn govt not to take military approach to arrest Alipour

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Alipoor (also known as Commander Shamsheer)

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Blinken to Consult with NATO Allies on Troop Withdrawal Plans for Afghanistan

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Blinken

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
March 23, 2021

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged Tuesday to consult and share with NATO allies Washington’s plans on any possible military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Washington has committed to pulling out its remaining 2,500 troops and several thousand NATO forces from the war-shattered South Asian nation by May 1. The deadline is outlined in a February 2020 agreement that then-President Donald Trump’s administration signed with the Afghan Taliban insurgency.

“We went in together, we have adjusted together and when the time is right we will leave together,” Blinken told reporters in Brussels when asked what he would tell his NATO partners about U.S. plans for Afghanistan.

NATO foreign ministers have gathered at the military alliance’s headquarters to spend the next two days discussing the way forward in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, while reacting to Blinken’s remarks, told VOA the insurgent group expects the U.S. to honor and fully implement the deal.

“It is clearly stated in the agreement that America will withdraw all its troops (from Afghanistan) by May 1, and we again ask them to strictly adhere to the mutually agreed deadline,” Mujahid said.

“In case Americans do not meet their obligations and abandon the agreement, the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) will be forced to defend their nation and consider all other options to force foreign troops out of the country,” Mujahid said. He did not elaborate.

Blinken in his talk Tuesday reiterated that the U.S.-Taliban deal was still being reviewed by President Joe Biden’s administration and that he will “share some of our initial thinking” with NATO allies to “listen and consult” with them.

“Last week, President Biden noted that it would be tough to meet the May 1 deadline for a full withdrawal; but whatever the United States ends up doing will be informed by the thinking of our NATO allies, which I’ll take back to me after these conversations and consultations,” said Blinken.

“Tactical decisions aside, we are united with our NATO allies in seeking to bring a responsible end to this conflict and to remove our troops from harm’s way just as we are collectively determined to ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists who could threaten the United States or our allies,” he added.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, speaking alongside Blinken, supported and welcomed the Biden administration’s renewed efforts to push the Taliban and the Afghan government into a power-sharing peace deal to ensure Afghanistan does not collapse into greater violence and chaos after the foreign troop pullout.

“The challenge now is that we have peace talks and we strongly welcome them. They are fragile but they are the only path to a lasting political solution in Afghanistan…and to achieve that, all parties need to negotiate in good faith,” Stoltenberg said.

The NATO chief stressed the need for reducing Afghan violence and urged the Taliban to “stop supporting international terrorists, including (the) al-Qaida (network).”

The U.S.-Taliban pact encouraged the insurgents to open the first direct talks with representatives of the Afghan government in Doha last September to try to agree on a political deal that would end the nearly two decades of war.

But the so-called intra-Afghan peace dialogue has made little progress and remained stalled for most of the time, with both Afghan rivals accusing each other of delays.

Blinken said in a strongly-worded letter to Ghani earlier this month it is urgent that the Afghan government accelerate the peace process.

He warned that even if the U.S. financial assistance of around $4 billion continued for Kabul to help sustain Afghan security forces after the foreign troop withdrawal, the Taliban would make rapid territorial gains.

In a weekly commentary published on its official website Tuesday, the Taliban group said it has “fulfilled all its responsibilities” outlined in the agreement” signed with the U.S. in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in February 2020.

“We hope that the other parties, be they foreign or internal, also remain committed to the Doha agreement so that the process of intra-Afghan negotiations may arrive at a successful destination through following this roadmap,” said the insurgent statement.

The Taliban reject allegations they maintain ties with transnational terror groups. Taliban leaders have ignored international calls for reducing battlefield attacks in Afghanistan until they strike a power-sharing agreement with Afghan rivals that would see formation of an “Islamic government” in the country.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has long resisted relinquishing power in favor of a transitional government, saying he will transfer power only through elections. The Taliban reject the Ghani administration as an illegal entity and a product of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan.

Ghani Inaugurates New School Year, Seeks Quality Education

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Tolo News: President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday inaugurated the new school year by ringing the bell at Amani High School in Kabul where he stressed the need for quality education in the country and vowed further support to teachers. Ghani said that at least 1,800 new schools will be built this year and that over 11,000 posts will be announced for teachers. Click here to read more (external link).

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