Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah on Friday said that for the people of Afghanistan, after 40 years of war, peace is a “priority.”
This comes as talks continue between US officials and the Taliban in Doha.
US and Taliban delegates in Qatar are working out the terms for a reduction in violence as part of ongoing peace talks, and sources familiar with the talks say the United States has recently made several new demands with the reduction in violence plan.
“The Afghan people welcome any move for peace, because we have passed through the chaos and pain of war over the past forty years: therefore, the people want peace as a priority,” said Abdullah.
“It is hoped that the Taliban will realize the firm commitment of the Afghan people for reaching peace and they (the Taliban) now will show their determination for peace in a pragmatic way so that there is an end to the bloodshed between the two sides,” said Najia Anwari, a spokesperson for the State Ministry on Peace Affairs.
Sources close to the Taliban have said that the US and the Taliban negotiators have not made any progress on the issue of extending the timeframe of a possible reduction in violence. According to sources, the latest offer of the Taliban was an agreement for a limited-time reduction in violence—7 to 10 days—but the US has asked for a longer commitment.
“Informal talks move on, and discussions move on regarding the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and a permanent reduction in violence,” said Jalaluddin Shinwari, the former Taliban attorney general during the Taliban regime.
Pakistan, which wields a strong influence on the Taliban, has said that the reduction in violence proposal was a step forward towards the intra-Afghan talks.
“We are closely following the developments regarding the US-Taliban peace talks, we believe that it is a good development that Taliban have showed readiness and called for a reduction in violence, we have considered this to be a step forward towards the peace agreement, and we hope that the US-Taliban peace talks would come to its logical conclusion leading to intra-Afghan negotiations,” said Aisha Farooqui, a spokesperson for the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Although the Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has persisted in his call for a ceasefire, Abdullah has been urging that no preconditions should be made for talks.
US officials have also raised hopes that the reduction of violence might finally lead to the start of intra-Afghan talks.