Daily US Times: In the first-ever talk between the two sides, the Afghan government has called for a humanitarian ceasefire with the Taliban.
The talk has begun in Qatar yesterday and Abdullah Abdullah, who led the government’s delegation, stressed that there was “no winner through war”.
The Taliban did not mention a truce, reiterating instead that Afghanistan should be under Islamic law.
The US encouraged both the Taliban and Afghan government to reach an agreement, telling them: “The entire world wants you to succeed”.
Afghanistan has seen four decades of conflict, with tens of thousands of civilians killed.
The historic talks began on 12 September, one day after the 19th anniversary of the deadly 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks in New York, that led to the US beginning military operations in Afghanistan, which is the longest conflict in US history.
These are the first direct talks between the Afghan government and Taliban. The Taliban had until now refused to meet the government, calling them powerless and American “puppets”.
What to expect from Taliban
The conflict is still continuing in the country, and the government says 12,000 civilians have been killed since February.
The head of Afghanistan’s peace council, Abdullah Abdullah, called for an immediate ceasefire at Saturday’s opening ceremony. He told Reuters news agency “one of the top most issues on the minds of the people is reduction in violence in a significant way”.
He added that his delegation “represents a political system that is supported by millions of men and women from a diversity of social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds in our homeland”, and that they hoped “to close the gates of war and pain forever”.
Meanwhile, Taliban leader Mullah Baradar Akhund said he hoped negotiations would “move forward with patience”.
He added he wanted Afghanistan to be “independent, united, and… have an Islamic system in which all tribes and ethnicities of the country find themselves without any discrimination”.
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