ISLAMABAD – The United States is not sincere about peace in Afghanistan when it signalled it would remain open to exploring a settlement that includes the Haqqani network, one of the group’s senior commanders said on Thursday. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested in comments this week that Washington would not shut the door on the Haqqanis – blamed for high-profile attacks in Afghanistan – in any peace arrangement.
The Haqqanis saw the remarks as an attempt to divide Afghan insurgent groups and believed only the top leaders of the Taliban should negotiate, said the commander. “We had rejected many such offers from the United States in the past and reject this new offer as we are not authorised to decide the future of Afghanistan,” he told Reuters. In an interview with Reuters, Clinton did not spell out who the US believes should speak for Afghanistan’s insurgent groups and said it was too soon to tell whether any of them were serious about reconciliation.
