Afghan president offers direct talks with Taliban

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has called on the Taliban militant group to join peace talks “without preconditions,” even as he called on the outfit to accept the rule of law.

The president made the offer at the start of the second Kabul Process Conference attended by officials from around 25 countries in the capital, Kabul, on Wednesday.

He said a framework for peace talks had to be created, with the Taliban recognized as a legitimate group.

“We are making this offer without preconditions in order to lead to a peace agreement,” Ghani said.  “We will consider the Taliban’s view in the peace talks.”

“The Taliban are expected to give input to the peace-making process, the goal of which is to draw the Taliban, as an organization, to peace talks,” said the president, adding that he would not “pre-judge” any group seeking peace.

He said his government would provide passports and issue visas to Taliban members and their families and open an office for them in Kabul. Ghani also promised to work to remove sanctions against Taliban leaders.

“The Afghan government must be accepting and we will also work on the list of freeing Taliban prisoners,” he added.

In return for the offer, the group would have to recognize the Afghan government and respect the rule of law, the president said, contradicting his offer of talks “without preconditions.”

The Afghan president in the past has regularly called the Taliban “terrorists” and “rebels.” He formerly offered to talk to only parts of the Taliban that accepted peace.

The group, however, has so far refused direct talks with Kabul.

But the Taliban have called for direct talks with the United States. Just a day before the start of the conference in Kabul, the Taliban released a statement calling for direct talks with Washington to find a “peaceful solution” to the long-running war. It said the US must recognize that the conflict cannot be solved militarily.

The Taliban also previously wrote an open letter to “the American people,” saying it was willing to enter into “peaceful dialog.”

More than 16 years after the United States toppled a Taliban regime in an invasion of Afghanistan and despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops across the country, the Taliban are still carrying out militant attacks.

Just over the weekend, the militants killed at least 18 soldiers in an attack on their checkpoint in western Farah Province.

On January 27, a Taliban member drove an ambulance filled with explosives into a police checkpoint at the heart of Kabul, killing at least 103 people and wounding as many as 235.

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