Ghani Urges World To Support Peace In Afghanistan In Speech To UN

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Ashraf Ghani

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 24, 2020

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has urged the world to help his country achieve peace amid talks with the Taliban aimed at ending nearly two decades of conflict.

In a prerecorded speech to the UN General Assembly delivered on September 23, Ghani said the Afghan government had demonstrated the “commitment, compassion, and courage” to make hard decisions to hold direct peace talks with the Taliban but said this wouldn’t be enough.

“For sustainable peace in Afghanistan we must get to the roots of the terrorism problem blighting our region and address it as the global phenomenon and threat that it is,” Ghani said.

Afghanistan, he said, faced “multiple drivers of turmoil all at once,” noting that the coronavirus pandemic and climate change were among them.

But the main driver of turmoil is a wave of global terrorism in which terrorist networks are closely linked with global criminal networks, making warfare totally unconventional and peace-building even more of a challenge, he said.

But Ghani said peace remains Afghanistan’s “most urgent and important priority,” and at the talks, which got under way in Doha, Qatar, on September 12, the Afghan people have a “clear and urgent priority” to achieve a cease-fire.

The intra-Afghan talks are part of a process begun in February when the United States and the militants struck an agreement that could see foreign troops exit Afghanistan.

The Afghan government’s lead negotiator, Abdullah Abdullah, said on September 22 that negotiations with the Taliban had been positive, although the two sides reportedly remain far from agreement on virtually every issue.

Abdullah also said that some of the 5,000 Taliban prisoners released by the Afghan authorities as a condition for talks had resumed the fight against the government, and said that despite the negotiations, the level of violence inside Afghanistan had not fallen.

He called on Washington and Pakistan, which allegedly maintains ties to the militants, to pressure them to agree to a cease-fire.

In his UN speech, which was delivered to a largely virtual General Assembly because of the coronavirus pandemic, Ghani called on the members of the assembly to help the country achieve a “sovereign, united, and democratic Afghanistan.”

The Afghan president said that outcome would be an example of how the principles on which the UN was founded can work and would show “how our collective will can overcome the turmoil and uncertainty that defines our world today.”

With reporting by AP

Copyright (c) 2020. 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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Freed Taliban Fighters Returning To Battlefield, Top Afghan Negotiator Says

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A. Abdullah

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 23, 2020

A number of Taliban prisoners who were released by the Afghan government as a condition for peace talks have returned to the battlefield, lead Kabul negotiator Abdullah Abdullah has said.

Abdullah, the head of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, said negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar have been positive since they opened in Doha on September 12, although the two sides reportedly remain far from agreement on virtually every issue.

But Abdullah said that some — though not the majority — of the 5,000 Taliban prisoners released by the Afghan authorities as a condition for talks had resumed the fight against the government.

“I do know that some have returned to the battlefield, which is a violation of the agreement that they had made,” Abdullah told an online conference with the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations on September 22.

Despite the ongoing negotiations, the level of violence inside Afghanistan has not fallen, and Abdullah called on Washington, which launched the peace process as part of a February deal with the Taliban, and Pakistan, which allegedly maintains ties to the militants, to pressure them to agree to a cease-fire.

“Unfortunately, so far, the level of violence is very high and to a level that is not acceptable for the people,” Abdullah said. “I repeat my call to the Taliban themselves and also to all partners who have any leverage over the Taliban to press on that point.”

Abdullah said he planned to travel to Pakistan soon for the first time since 2008.

The persistent violence, and the Taliban’s failure to completely cut relations with the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, was singled out as a barrier to success by U.S. officials testifying in Congress on September 22.

U.S. chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad warned that violence remains unacceptably high and Washington expects more setbacks in ongoing peace talks between Taliban militants and the Afghan government.

“By any measure, current levels of violence are too high,” Khalilzad said. “We know that reductions are possible.”

“While we have reasons to be hopeful, we are under no illusions about the challenges ahead…. We expect that there will be setbacks and obstacles,” Khalilzad said.

He added that Washington and its allies were looking at an agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan so that neither side’s territory would be used to attack the other.

“We’re hoping that by the time that these other negotiations are over, we could also achieve success in that regard,” said Khalilzad, who recently returned from Doha.

With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters

Copyright (c) 2020. 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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U.S. Envoy Says Violence In Afghanistan ‘Too High,’ Expects More Peace Talks Setbacks

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Khalilzad

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 22, 2020

A senior U.S. envoy for Afghanistan on September 22 warned that violence there remains unacceptably high and Washington expects more setbacks in ongoing peace talks between Taliban militants and the Afghan government.

Veteran diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad’s comments come as the warring sides remain far apart on even basic issues 10 days into talks in Qatar meant to end two decades of war.

He was speaking at a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“By any measure, current levels of violence are too high,” Khalilzad said. “We know that reductions are possible.”

The talks follow a February agreement between the Taliban and the United States allowing U.S. forces to withdraw in exchange for Taliban promises on terrorism.

But the militant group has refused to agree to a cease-fire, and the violence in Afghanistan continues.

In recent months, the Taliban has pledged to respect women’s rights under Shari’a law, but many educated women who have grown up since the Taliban were ousted in 2001 for harboring Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin laden have doubts.

At the September 22 House hearing, Democrats asked Khalilzad about the possibility that after 20 years of war, billions of dollars, and thousands of deaths, the withdrawal of U.S. forces could end education for Afghan girls.

“I want to assure the Afghan women that we will be with them,” Khalilzad said.

Since the talks opened in Qatar on September 12, the two sides reportedly remain far from agreement on virtually every issue.

“While we have reasons to be hopeful, we are under no illusions about the challenges ahead…. We expect that there will be setbacks and obstacles,” Khalilzad said.

He added that Washington and allies were looking at an agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan so that neither side’s territory would be used to attack the other.

“We’re hoping that by the time that these other negotiations are over, we could also achieve success in that regard,” Khalilzad, who recently returned from Doha, said.

With reporting by Reuters

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.