Acting Defense Minister Assadullah Khalid stated that he is not confident whether the Qatar peace talks will lead to a positive outcome, saying the Taliban has no will to bring peace to Afghanistan.
Speaking at the Lower House of Parliament on Tuesday, Khalid said if peace talks had not started last year, the defense and security forces might have had great achievements by now.
“After Qatar, we went on the defensive,” he said. “The enemy used Qatar as deception and trickery, and so far no decision has been made either to establish peace or to reduce violence. We are not sure that the peace talks will work, but that does not mean we are opposed to peace talks.”
Khalid noted that any voice that comes from Afghanistan, can bring peace to the country and guarantees the achievements of the past two decades, the army supports it.
He added, “We have never been opposed to peace, but the enemy and their regional and international supporters have no will for peace. Still they have houses in Rawalpindi and Karachi, and their injured members are being treated there.
Pointing to the concerns of the citizens about the withdrawal of the foreign forces from Afghanistan, Khalid said the number of foreign forces may possibly decrease, but they will not withdraw completely.
He added that even with the withdrawal of the foreign forces from Afghanistan, the army is able to defend the country. The Afghan forces are handling 96 percent of the operations, and it’s only the remaining four percent that is operated by the foreign forces, said Khalid.
The Acting Defense Minister also said the intelligence currently covers 60 percent of Afghanistan and by next year, the remaining 40 percent will also be under the coverage of the intelligence.
Khalid said the paper system in the Ministry of Defense has been replaced by the digital system and that it will lead to transparency and less corruption. He pointed out that in the next six years the commando forces of the army will be equipped with more weapons.
