The National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib on Saturday said the next rounds of the peace negotiations between the teams of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban should be conducted in Afghanistan, adding that the government does not have any consideration with any venue that is selected by the Taliban.
The peace negotiations witnessed a breakthrough earlier this month after the two sides agreed on procedural rules for the talks. The working groups of both teams held three meetings to discuss the agenda of the talks last week. Their meetings were expected to be held this week but were delayed as the two sides were consulting on their demands to be included in the agenda of the talks.
Mohib said the Afghan government is ready to hold talks with the Taliban in any part of the country that they suggest.
The National Security Advisor went on to defend his comments, saying that talks within Afghanistan will build trust in the peace negotiations and will provide Afghans the ability to monitor and own the talks.
Mohib said in a series of tweets that talks within Afghanistan will provide the negotiators the awareness about the people and their demands and it will prevent additional costs for the process.
Therefore, Mohib said, there is a need to hold the next rounds of the peace negotiations within Afghanistan so that peace becomes countrywide and enduring and is impacted by realities in Afghanistan’s community instead of being impacted by foreigners’ conditions.
He further said that peace negotiations abroad and their negotiators are overshadowed by conditions abroad and that experience has shown that such type of peace will not favor the interests of Afghanistan.
This comes as Taliban deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, at the Heart of Asia Society’s 7th session on Thursday, said the group has the will to solve Afghanistan’s conflict through negotiations.
He stated that the next political system of Afghanistan should be an inclusive and Islamic system.
Baradar said that the next political system will also ensure the protection of public utility infrastructures, women’s rights, media rights, and Afghanistan’s bilateral relations with all other nations in line with the Islamic principles.
On Wednesday, sources said that the Taliban has asked for two days to discuss the 28-article demand list of the Afghan republic’s negotiating team. But a member of the Taliban’s negotiating team in Qatar said that the two-day time period was brought up mutually.
