US envoy denies Taliban claim on foreign troop withdrawal
The US special envoy to Afghanistan on Thursday denied Taliban claims of a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops.
Senior Taliban negotiator Abdul Salam Hanafi said that US diplomats had agreed to remove half of the 14,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of April and that the withdrawal process had already begun.
US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad denied this assertion, tweeting: “I’ve heard some Taliban officials claim we have a troop withdrawal timetable for Afghanistan ... To be clear, no troop withdrawal timetable exists.”
There were six days of peace talks in Doha — where Hanafi said the timetable had been set — but there have also been talks elsewhere as the insurgents meet top officials from Asia, Europe and beyond to reach a political settlement aimed at ending the war.
Claim
The Taliban refuses to meet the Afghan government, dismissing it a puppet of the West, and insists that foreign troops must leave the country.
Hanafi
made
the
troop withdrawal claim in Moscow, where Taliban delegates held talks with prominent Afghan politicians. Kabul objected to the meeting, with one army general describing at as a “white coup” against the government.
“It was like a white coup and a warning for Ghani. His rivals, influential politicians and power brokers had taken part in it and agreed on certain things,” one army general who served in Ghani’s administration told Arab News, requesting anonymity.
“Ghani seems to be left alone and will be dealt with in future talks as one side to the conflict rather than as a government.”
The Taliban’s top negotiator in Moscow Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai said after the meeting that there would be no cease-fire until the withdrawal of foreign troops.
The sides agreed on an assurance to the international community that Afghanistan would not be used as a terror base against any other nation, and that women had the right to education and work in line with Islamic principles.
They “called for the protection of freedom of speech in line with Islamic principles, and to undertake efforts to attract international assistance for the reconstruction of Afghanistan’s infrastructure.”