The second round of the peace negotiations is set to begin Tuesday and the negotiating team of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan said that their consultations on the agenda of the negotiations have ended and they are ready to enter the new phase of the process.
The team is expected to meet Abdullah Abdullah, head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, and the leadership committee of the council on Monday evening to discuss the basic lines for the talks.
The deputy head of the EU delegation in Afghanistan, Arnout Pauwels, said that this round of talks is critical and that the European Union expects that violence will end in the country with the start of negotiations.
“They’re absolutely crucial, the peace talks, the intra-Afghan negotiations, that should lead to inclusive and sustainable peace deal,” he said. “This country has known violence and war for a long time in its history but now forty-two years almost continuously, so almost two generations grew up with violence.”
The negotiating team said that end of violence is a priority for them in talks with the Taliban.
“The negotiating team of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan after consultations with different layers--political, cultural and social--will visit Qatar,” negotiator Ghulam Farooq Majroh said.
Jake Sullivan, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for national security adviser, has said that the deal signed between the United States and the Taliban in February imposes obligations on both sides and that it needs to be implemented in action, not in words.
Talking to CNN, Sullivan said that “there is currently a US Taliban agreement and it imposes some obligations on the United States and it imposes some obligations on the Taliban.”
“The obligations on the Taliban include cutting ties with al Qaeda, not just in word but in deed, reduces violence, and participating in good-faith negotiations with the Afghan government because, ultimately, it's a deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government that is going to produce the kind of outcome, peaceful settlement that will allow us to achieve what is everybody's goal, which is an end to the conflict in Afghanistan,” he said.
He added that the United States, under President Joe Biden, will support diplomacy along these lines, even as it ensures through America's national security strategy that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists to attack the United States.
Meanwhile, US forces spokesman Sonny Leggett rejected a Taliban claim about a US violation of the US-Taliban agreement, saying “US Forces have been clear and consistent: We will defend Afghan forces against (Taliban) attacks. We renew our call for all sides to reduce violence.”
“The Taliban’s campaign of unclaimed attacks and targeted killings of government officials, civil society leaders and journalists must also cease for peace to succeed,” he said.
The Taliban in a statement said that US forces conducted airstrikes in Nangarhar and Helmand provinces in support of Afghan forces, which had initiated contact.
The Taliban said that these actions are a violation of the US-Taliban deal.
“We’re extremely worried about the targeted killings of human rights defenders, journalists, women activists, civil servants and armed policemen,” the EU deputy said.
Second Vice President Sarwar Danesh in a meeting on Monday said that the continuation of violence and targeted killings amid the peace negotiations is not acceptable.