Taliban demanding ‘lion's share of power’ amid military gains: US diplomat

A senior US diplomat says the Taliban are demanding “the lion’s share of power” in any new government in Afghanistan, as they are making major military advances across the country.

The US special representative for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, warned at the Aspen Security Forum on Tuesday that Afghanistan’s situation was rapidly deteriorating, and that the Afghan government needed to find its “military bearings.”

“At this point, they (the Taliban) are demanding that they take the lion’s share of power in the next government given the military situation as they see it,” he said.

“The situation is very concerning, and our expectation is that both the government and the Talibs would focus on a political settlement,” he said.

The Taliban have been “emboldened” by their recent military advances and are in a “maximalist frame of mind” when it comes to a negotiated settlement, Khalilzad told the forum.

Peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban started last year in the Qatari capital of Doha, but have not made any progress.

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Khalilzad has, however, said peace can only be reached through a ceasefire in Afghanistan.

He said President Ashraf Ghani’s administration says the talks should focus on “bringing the Taliban into the current government.”

But the Taliban insist that Ghani’s government “is the result of military occupation,” demanding an agreement on a transitional government and constitution, according to Khalilzad.

“They are far apart,” he said. “They are trying to affect each other’s calculus and the terms by what they are doing on the battlefield.”

Also on Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Taliban saw “the utility of a negotiated solution, they are engaged in Doha.”

“If they seek to contravene what they have said, then they will be an international pariah... and the concern on the part of all of us, one of the many concerns is that the result will be civil war,” Price warned.

Speaking at the annual foreign policy forum, retired General David Petraeus, also warned of an “increasingly dire security situation” inside Afghanistan.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a tweet on Tuesday that he had spoken to President Ghani “to reiterate the strong and enduring US commitment to Afghanistan.”

“We discussed the need to accelerate peace negotiations toward an inclusive political settlement that respects the rights of all Afghans, including women and girls,” Blinken said.

The United Nations Security Council also “expressed their deep concern about the high levels of violence in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s military offensive, and called for an immediate reduction of violence.”

In a statement on Tuesday, the council urged the militants and the government to “engage meaningfully in an inclusive, Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.”

Several provincial capitals have been encircled by the Taliban, and heavy fighting has been going on for days now in the capitals of Helmand and Kandahar provinces in the south, and in the city of Herat in the west.

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A senior Afghan commander charged with defending the capital of Helmand Province, Lashkar Gah, from advancing Taliban militants urges civilians to evacuate the southern city ahead of a planned army offensive.

At least 40 civilians were killed and more than 100 wounded in the previous 24 hours of fighting in the southern city, the UN said on Tuesday.

President Ghani said earlier this week that his government had a plan to restore stability in the country within six months.

Under a deal with the Taliban, the United States has been pulling out its troops from Afghanistan. Violence has been surging since. Washington has been blamed for the surge as it has failed to stabilize the security situation after two decades of war and occupation.

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