Senior US Officials Meet Taliban to Forward Peace Talks

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By Ayesha Tanzeem
VOA News
April 14, 2020

ISLAMABAD – Senior U.S. officials met with the Taliban in Qatar Monday to discuss possible violations of a deal the two sides signed February 29, among other issues, according to a Taliban spokesman.

“They talked about complete implementation of the Agreement as well as delay in the release of the prisoners. Violations of the Agreement and other issues and ways of their solutions were also discussed,” tweeted Suhail Shaheen, spokesman of the Taliban political team in Doha.

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Austin Miller, accompanied Zalmay Khalilzad, the architect of the U.S.-Taliban deal, to the meeting hosted by Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdur Rahman al-Thani. The Taliban delegation was led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the head of its political office.

The militant group has repeatedly asserted that the Americans have violated their end of the agreement by attacking either civilians or Taliban forces not involved in fighting. U.S. officials deny this.

In a recent message, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed that “American invaders and their local puppets” dropped bombs killing civilians and destroying their homes in Badakhshan province.

Earlier, in an interview with VOA, Shaheen claimed U.S. forces attacked Taliban forces in violation of the agreement.

“They attacked our guards while there was no fighting. They attacked residential houses of our military people at night when they were resting or carried out night raids,” Shaheen said.

The February agreement allows the two sides to defend themselves when attacked but forbids initiating attacks on each other.

Earlier this month, Colonel Sonny Leggett, the spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Tweeted a denial of such allegations.

“USFOR-A has upheld, and continues to uphold, the military terms of the U.S.-TB agreement; any assertion otherwise is baseless. USFOR-A has been clear — we will defend our ANDSF partners if attacked, in compliance with the agreement.”

Afghan officials, on the other hand, accuse the Taliban of continuing to kill civilians.

“Taliban killed at least 30 civilians and wounded two others across nine provinces in the last seven days,” spokesman for the Afghan National Security Council Javid Faisal tweeted Sunday.

Afghanistan’s independent Human Rights Commission said Tuesday 83 Afghan civilians were killed and 119 others wounded since the signing of the deal between the U.S. and Taliban on February 29. The human rights body blamed Taliban for half of the killings. Islamic State and other groups were blamed for the other half.

U.S. officials have repeatedly urged the Taliban to reduce the level of violence in Afghanistan. According to Afghanistan’s Tolo News channel, General Miller’s focus Monday was on the need to reduce violence and creating conditions for the intra-Afghan negotiations.

Negotiations between the Taliban and other Afghan factions were the second phase of the deal and were supposed to start by March 10. They were held up when the Afghan government, which was not officially part of the U.S.-Taliban deal, refused to release Taliban prisoners before the start date.

The deal called for the U.S. to push for the release of up to 5,000 militants in return for 1,000 members of Afghan security forces held by the Taliban.

In the last two weeks though, the Afghan government has released 361 Taliban prisoners. Spokesman Faisal said the “releases will continue across other prisons to free a total of 1,500 as part of our efforts to advance peace.”

In return, the Taliban have released 20 Afghan security personnel.

Welcoming the release of prisoners from both sides, U.S. envoy Khalilzad urged them to “accelerate efforts to meet targets specified in the U.S.- Taliban agreement as soon as possible.”

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665 Confirmed Coronavirus Cases in Afghanistan

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Tolo News: The Health Ministry spokesman, Wahidullah Mayar, at a press conference on Monday said that 58 new COVID-19 cases have been registered in the country in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 665. The 58 new cases were registered in Kandahar (28), Kabul (13), Helmand (7), Nimruz (6), Takhar (3) and Kunduz (1), according to the Health Ministry. The total cases in Herat is now 280. Click here to read more (external link).

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China’s strategic assessment of Afghanistan

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Yun Sun via warontherocks.com: With the U.S. troop withdrawal in sight, Afghanistan’s future seems less certain than ever. As a neighboring state with significant interests at stake, how does China view and prepare for Afghanistan’s future? The enhancement of Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan will not only indirectly contribute to China’s influence but also potentially improve the negotiation positions of both Islamabad and Beijing vis-à-vis Washington. Although China bears a negative and pessimistic view over the internal peace and stability of Afghanistan following the peace deal, there are some silver linings in terms of regional geopolitics. Click here to read more (external link).

U.S. Envoy Calls Afghan Prisoner Releases ‘Important Step’ Toward Peace

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Khalilzad

RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
April 13, 2020

U.S. envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, who negotiated a deal with the Taliban, has welcomed a prisoner exchange between the militants and the Afghan government as an “important step” toward peace.

“Both sides should accelerate efforts to meet targets specified in the U.S.-Taliban agreement as soon as possible,” Khalilzad said on Twitter on April 13, adding that the exchange was more important than ever with prison populations threatened by an outbreak of coronavirus.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Taliban on April 12 released 20 Afghan prisoners in the southern province of Kandahar.

The move came after the Afghan government released 100 Taliban prisoners, bringing to 300 the total number of Taliban inmates freed since April 8.

A pact signed by the United States and the Taliban in the Qatari capital, Doha, on February 29 calls for the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban fighters as a confidence-building measure ahead of formal peace talks aimed at ending the 18-year conflict in Afghanistan.

The Taliban has vowed to release some 1,000 Afghan government troops and civilian workers it is holding.

But the Taliban last week recalled a three-member team it had sent to Kabul to try to finalize the swap originally set to happen by March 10.

The militants blamed the administration of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani for delaying the exchange “under one pretext or another,” while Kabul called on the Taliban not to “sabotage the process by making excuses.”

In return for the start of talks between Kabul and the Taliban and a series of security commitments from the militants, all U.S. troops and other foreign coalition forces are meant to withdraw from Afghanistan within 14 months.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, Reuters, and TOLOnews

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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Ghani Calls For Unity Against COVID-19

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Tolo News: As positive cases of the coronavirus increase in the country, President Ghani says the government “has the capacity to fight COVID-19” and that it has the situation “under control,” but “unity” is required. Speaking at an event at the Presidential Palace on Sunday, Ghani said overcoming a health and economic crisis requires a “unified” perspective. Click here to read more (external link).

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Iran’s foreign minister urges enhanced peace, unity in Afghanistan

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Zarif

Press TV
April 12, 2020

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has stressed the importance of strengthening unity among Afghanistan’s various parties and establishing peace and stability in the country.

In a Sunday phone call with Mohammed Haneef Atmar, the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan, the Iranian foreign minister said relations between Tehran and Kabul should be promoted in all fields.

Earlier this week, Zarif held separate phone conversations with Afghan President-elect Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah on issues of common interest, from the latest developments in Afghanistan’s political arena and the troubles that emerged in the wake of the recent presidential election in Afghanistan to bilateral cooperation in the fight against the new coronavirus pandemic.

The Iranian minister also highlighted political structures based upon Afghanistan’s Constitution as the pivots of the country’s peace and national reconciliation process.

The top Iranian diplomat reaffirmed the Islamic Republic’s support for the peace process in Afghanistan with the participation of all Afghan political groups within the framework of the Constitution.

Abdullah, who serves as the chief executive officer of the outgoing administration, rejected a decision by Afghanistan’s Election Commission last month to announce Ghani as the winner of the presidential election, proclaiming himself to be president-elect. On March 9, Ghani and Abdullah both held inauguration ceremonies in the capital Kabul.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on March 22 that hasty measures taken by the US administration to reach an agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan and inattention to the country’s domestic issues are the main reasons behind the current political crisis in the country following the presidential election.

The Islamic Republic invites Afghanistan’s political leaders and regional countries to use their utmost capacities to find a solution to the current differences between the two leaders in line with the public interests of the Afghan people and in order to maintain peace and stability in the country, which would have great impact on the entire region, the ministry added.

The United States signed a deal with the Afghan Taliban in the Qatari capital, Doha, on February 29. Under the deal, the Taliban have agreed to sever ties with al-Qaeda and other terror groups and sit down for peace talks with the Afghan government. In return, Washington will start a phased withdrawal of troops.

The Afghan government was a party neither to the negotiations nor to the deal that was primarily aimed at reducing violence in the war-torn country.

Since it was signed, however, violence has escalated with the militants carrying out dozens of deadly attacks across the country.

On March 10, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the deal.

Taliban Free 20 Afghan Prisoners

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
April 12, 2020

The Taliban released a first group of 20 prisoners on Sunday, effectively moving forward a crucial swap with the Afghanistan government aimed at kick-starting peace talks between Afghan parties to the war.

The insurgent move follows the release of 300 Taliban prisoners over the past few days, including 100 freed on Sunday, by the government.

“Today, 20 prisoners of the Kabul administration will be released by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and handed over to ICRC in Kandahar,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen tweeted.

The prisoner exchange is part of a landmark February 29 deal the United States signed with the Taliban in Qatar with a goal to finding a negotiated end to the Afghan war, now in its 19th year.

The agreement requires Afghan authorities to set free up to 5,000 insurgent inmates and the Taliban to free 1,000 detainees, mostly Afghan security forces, before intra-Afghan peace negotiations could begin.

The prisoner swap was to be completed before March 10 when peace talks were supposed to start. But reluctance on part of the Afghan government, which was kept out of the deal, prevented implementation of the two key elements in the agreement.

Critics say the extremely slow pace of the prisoner swap means it will be weeks if not months before intra-Afghan talks could begin.

The much-awaited visible progress in the prisoner swap follows Friday’s meeting between General Scott Miller, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and Taliban leaders in the Qatari capital of Doha, which hosts the insurgent group’s political office.

“General Miller met with Taliban leadership last night as part of the military channel established in the agreement. The meeting was about the need to reduce the violence,” a U.S. military spokesman told VOA on Saturday.

Taliban spokesman Shaheen while sharing details of the meeting said the U.S.-Taliban agreement’s “violations, particularly attacks and night raids in non-combat areas, came under serious discussion.” He added that the Taliban delegation “called for a halt to such attacks.”

The U.S. military denies the allegations as baseless, saying the agreement allows foreign troops to act in defense of Afghan security forces if attacked by the Taliban.

The accord requires insurgents not to attack U.S.-led foreign forces, who have committed to gradually withdraw from Afghanistan by July 2021, ending Washington’s longest overseas military intervention.

In additional to engaging in peace and reconciliation talks with other Afghan groups, the Taliban is also committed under the agreement not allow translational terrorists to use Afghan soil for future attacks against America and its allies.

Progress toward ending hostilities in Afghanistan is considered crucial because of the looming coronavirus outbreak. The war-ravaged country confirmed Sunday the pandemic has infected more than 600 Afghans and killed at least 18.

The Kabul government and the Taliban have launched separate counter COVID-19 campaigns in areas under their control but international stakeholders have called for both to cease violence and work together to fight the deadly disease.

555 COVID-19 Cases in Afghanistan, 18 Deaths Reported

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Tolo News: The number of positive cases of the coronavirus in Afghanistan reached 555 after the Ministry of Public Health reported 34 new cases on Saturday, warning people to stay at home. Addressing a press conference, Wahid Majroh, an adviser the Public Health Ministry, said the 34 cases include 8 in Kabul, 8 in Herat, 5 in Kandahar, 4 in Nimroz, 4 in Wardak, 2 in Balkh, one in Ghor, one in Baghlan and one in Badghis. Click here to read more (external link).

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