The Afghan government and Taliban delegations that are in Qatar discussing initiatives to end the over a decade long Afghan war are talking ceasefire.
Reuters news agency reports that on the second day of their meeting the delegations talked about announcing a possible ceasefire but did not reach to an agreement.
A participant is quoted as saying that agreement was not made because of the continued presence of US troops in Afghanistan. But government delegation is reasoning with Taliban that most foreigners have already left the country and the remaining trainers will also leave if Taliban lay down their weapons.
Reuters is quoting a Taliban participant for some information about the ongoing discussions.
The Taliban has said on condition of anonymity that their eight-member delegation is headed by Shir Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai who had held face-to-face talks with Afghan side.
“After the dialogue began, our people gave demands and conditions in written form and … distributed copies among all the participants.” He is quoted as saying.
“Then the dialogue started openly, and the Afghan delegation and Qayyum Kochai, uncle of (Afghan) President Ashraf Ghani, demanded we stop our fighting and announce a ceasefire. They called us brothers and advised us to come to Afghanistan and obey the Afghan constitution,” he has said in a second quote.
Both sides have not yet reached an accord for truce but they agreed for another round of discussion in UAE in near future.
Taliban began an insurgency after their regime was toppled in 2001. Tens of thousands of people have lost lives in the battle since then.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/3514
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