Afghanistan’s Second Vice President Mohammad Sarwar Danish on Wednesday said that the peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban was signed in a hasty way and there are no solid guarantees that the future of Afghanistan will be stable or the peace process will reach a conclusion.
In a meeting with the representative of the ICRC in Kabul, Danish warned that the Afghan peace process will face more challenges if the February 29 peace deal between the US and the Taliban in Doha is not reconsidered.
“If this agreement is not reviewed by the leadership of the United States, we will face severe problems in the future,” said Mohammad Hedayat, media adviser to VP Danish.
Meanwhile, Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the High Council of National Reconciliation (HCNR), said that there are no excuses to stop the peace negotiations.
“There are no reasons for one side of the negotiations to stop the talks,” said Abdullah Abdullah, the head of High Council of National Reconciliation.
Meanwhile, the Military Times has reported that the US military has gone a full year without a single combat death in Afghanistan for the first time in two decades of war.
Army Sgts.1st Class Javier Gutierrez and Antonio Rodriguez were the last two Americans to die while fighting in the country one year ago, the report said, adding that two others, Army Staff Sgt. Ian McLaughlin and Army Pfc. Miguel Villalon, were killed in January of last year.
The Taliban has said it may still target US military members if the Doha agreement is violated.
This comes as US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in a phone conversation with his Afghan counterpart Hamdullah Mohib on Jan. 22 said the Biden administration would review the Trump administration's February 2020 US-Taliban agreement, the White House said in a press release.
“The US brought the war, but now they are living in peace, but the people (Afghans) are being killed on a daily basis in Kabul,” said Tahir Yarghal, a military analyst.
The Taliban have warned that if the US does not leave Afghanistan as per the Doha agreement in May, the next option for the group will be war.
“If they (US) says that we are not going to withdraw, of course, there will a fierce battle,” said Mawlavi Qalamduddin, a former Taliban commander.
“Today, the entire world is supporting us in the view of our commitments for peace, these efforts will continue,” said Ghulam Farooq Majroh, a member of the peace negotiating team, representing the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in the talks with the Taliban.
Sources close to the Taliban have said that the unclear fate of the remaining Taliban prisoners, the groups presence on the UN blacklist, and also a lack of clarity in the US position about the Doha deal, are among the key factors causing the Taliban to boycott the talks with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Doha.