The Taliban quickly responded to Afghanistan President Arshaf Ghani’s roadmap for peace, which was laid out at the Geneva conference today, and its position is more than predictable. The Taliban yet again belittled the Afghan government as a “powerless and foreign imposed” regime that is unworthy of sitting down at a negotiating table.
In a statement released today on Voice of Jihad, the Taliban made its position on peace talks quite clear. Ghani was not described as the president of Afghan government, but the “head of Kabul administration.” The Afghan government, which the Taliban refuses to recognize as such, is “powerless and foreign imposed” and negotiating with it is “a waste of time because impotent sides do not possess the capacity of making decision [sic].” Ghani made proposals, the Taliban claimed, that are “beyond his capabilities” as the US is the real power behind negotiations.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the name the Taliban gives its own government-in-waiting, is “a representative of its nation,” and a “sovereign entity.”
Additionally, the Taliban noted that it is “fighting and negotiating with the American invaders for the success of Jihad.” In other words, it is waging a religious war to oust the US and what it perceives to be imposed Western-styled democracy. The Taliban called the Afghan government and its constitution un-Islamic and has said only the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has the religious authority to rule the Afghan people.
The statement, which is reproduced in full below, is the latest in a series of Taliban statements that detail the group’s position on negotiations and “peace” in Afghanistan. The Taliban has consistently maintained for more than a decade that it refuses to negotiate with the Afghan government, nor will it share power with it. It insists that peace will be achieved once the US and NATO withdraw their forces from the country.
Again, the Taliban’s response was entirely predictable. FDD’s Long War Journal noted earlier today that the Afghan government’s position on negotiations is completely at odds with the Taliban’s views. The latest statement by the Taliban merely reinforces these fundamental differences.
Latest Taliban statement on negotiations:
Remarks by spokesman of Islamic Emirate regarding comments by head of Kabul administration Ashraf Ghani
Today a conference about Afghanistan was convened in Geneva. The conference was also attended by Ashraf Ghani along with his team.
During his speech, Ashraf Ghani declared setting up a negotiation team that will talk with the Islamic Emirate. He also forwarded proposals about negotiations that were beyond his capabilities.
The policy of the Islamic Emirate about negotiations is very clear. The Islamic Emirate, as a representative of its nation, is waging war against the American invaders for the past eighteen years.
The Islamic Emirate, as a representative of the valiant Mujahid Afghan nation and as a sovereign entity, is fighting and negotiating with the American invaders for the success of Jihad.
It considers talking to powerless and foreign imposed entities as a waste of time because impotent sides do not possess the capacity of making decision.
The entire world understands that more than half of Afghanistan is under the control of Islamic Emirate whereas the Kabul administration is installed by the Americans and imposed on the Muslim Afghan nation. This regime is neither the government of the Afghan people and neither can it represent the valiant and Mujahid Afghan nation.
from Long War Journal – FDD's Long War Journal https://ift.tt/2AyWEw8
via Defense News
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