Some Meshrano Jirga or Senate members on Tuesday accused the United States of adopting a dual policy on the Afghan peace process and hoped the second round of peace negotiations would produce fruitful outcome.
This comes as the government’s negotiating team landed in Doha yesterday, to resume talks with Taliban representatives after a three-week break.
The team was expected to travel to Qatar on Monday but their trip was delayed due to technical issues.
Kamilbig Hussaini, a Mesharno Jirga member, about the government’s negotiating team’s trip to Doha, said, “We hope this round of talks would be different from the previous one and the team will have its achievements for the Afghan people.”
Anarkali Hunaryar, another senator, supported the second round of peace talks and hoped ceasefire would be also agreed upon by the two parties.
“Ceasefire would build more trust on this process and stop bloodshed in the country. The two sides should declare ceasefire for ending violence and the loss of people,” she said.
Meshrano Jirga chairman, Fazal Hadi Muslimyar, also hoped that the second round of talks would respond to the wishes of Afghans that were ceasefire and peace.
He also said ceasefire was helpful for ending bloodshed and making the peace talks more productive.
Muslimyar asked the government’s negotiating team to stiffly defend the constitution, values and security forces during talks with the Taliban.
A number of other members of the upper house held similar views but some of them accused the U.S. of a dual policy on the Afghan peace process.
Faisal Samay, deputy secretary of the house, said that the U.S. supported both the government and the Taliban.
“The U.S. should have a single policy about the Afghan peace process and it should stop supporting enemies,” he said.
He said the U.S. forces withdrawal should be responsible and based on the ground situation in Afghanistan.
America should press the Taliban to cut ties with other terrorist groups and declare a ceasefire so the ongoing bloodshed was stopped, he added.
Rahmatullah Achakzai, a senator from Kandahar province, also said the U.S. had dual policy towards the Afghan peace process.
He said the U.S. should act according the security agreement it had signed with the Afghan government and withdraw its troops based on conditions.
Fazal Hadi Mulimyar said the U.S. dual policy towards Afghanistan was not in the interest of the international community and Afghanistan and it would create more distrust about America.
