Pakistan, Afghan Taliban wrap up two days of talks
Javed Rana
Press TV, Islamabad
The Afghan Taliban’s political commission and top Pakistani diplomats wrapped up two days of talks in Islamabad.
They discussed obstacles in the way of direct talks between the Taliban and Afghanistan’s ethnic and political groups, including the government in Kabul. Intra-Afghan talks are part of a “peace” deal signed between the United States and the Taliban early this year.
Under the US-Taliban agreement, the Afghan government is supposed to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners as a precondition to intra-Afghan talks. Kabul has freed nearly 4,700 of the inmates, but seems reluctant to release the remaining prisoners. This has led to a prolonged delay in negotiations.
Under the deal with the Taliban, Washington has agreed to withdraw all the US troops and intelligence operatives from Afghanistan in 14 months. The militants have in return given assurances that they would not back any terrorist groups on Afghan soil.
Twenty percent of the Afghan army personnel desert every year. Since the peace deal with the US, the numbers have grown, with two to three dozen security forces joining the ranks of the Taliban every day.
So far, the United States has withdrawn 2,400 out of the 13,000 troops it has in Afghanistan and plans to pull out 5,000 more soon to comply with its deal with the Taliban.
Analysts believe that if intra-Afghan talks fail to take off, it will be difficult to avert the possibility of a violent takeover, at a time when the Taliban continue to attack Afghan security forces and expand the territory under their control.
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