Qatar asks Taliban to reduce violence to reach political agreement

Meeting with the leader of the movement’s political council, Mullah Baradar Akhund, Mohamed bin Abderrahman Al Zani discussed “recent developments on the ground in Afghanistan from a security and political perspective, as well as follow-up to the ongoing Afghan peace talks in Doha. “.

Baradar Akhund is the Taliban’s chief negotiator in talks with the Afghan government, which began in September 2020 and are taking place in the Qatari capital.

Also Qatar’s head of diplomacy, Zani “called on the Taliban to reduce the escalation” of violence in their accelerated advancement in order to “reach a comprehensive political agreement that guarantees a prosperous future for the government and people of Afghanistan,” according to QNA.

The number of provincial capitals in Afghanistan under Taliban rule has risen to 20 in recent hours. In just a week, rebels captured more than half of the country’s 34 provincial capitals.

On Thursday, representatives of regional and international powers at a meeting in Qatar also called for an immediate end to “violence and fighting” in Afghanistan, confirming that they do not recognize any regime imposed by force.

On Friday, the chairman of the Supreme Council for the National Reconciliation of Afghanistan, Abdullah Abdullah, returned from Doha, where he met with representatives of the Taliban, to whom he will present a power-sharing plan in exchange for a ceasefire, Afghan newspaper reported. Media reports, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.

On the same day, UN Secretary General António Guterres called on the Taliban to end the fighting and begin negotiations with the Afghan government, warning that a violent seizure of power would trigger civil war or international isolation.

A major Taliban offensive against the Afghan government began in early May, following the start of the final withdrawal of international forces (US and NATO) from Afghanistan.

The withdrawal of foreign troops from the Central Asian country is due to be completed by the end of this month, 20 years after the start of the intervention to remove the Taliban from power following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States by al-Qaeda, a group stationed in Afghanistan.

See also: Afghanistan. The number of provincial capitals seized by the Taliban increases