Taliban on Sunday strongly rejected the western media reports and statements of officials regarding talks with the US but said only an initial accord on political office in Qatar was agreed upon.
In an email, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid reiterated that the “perturbing reports spread by some news agencies and western officials about negotiations have no reality”.
When he was asked whether any political office of the Taliban existed in Qatar, he neither rejected nor accepted, however, said initial agreement in this connection had been reached. “Besides our powerful presence inside the country at the moment, we are ready to establish a political office outside the country to come to an understanding with other nations and in this series, we have reached an initial agreement with Qatar and other related sides. The Islamic emirate has also asked for the release of its prisoners from the Guantanamo prison in exchange.” Mujahid said it was an unambiguous reality that the Islamic movement of Taliban arose to set up an Islamic system in Afghanistan, uproot injustice, eradicate narcotics and the local writ of gunmen, strengthen security and to form national unity and “with the help of Allah and with the backing and sacrifices of the nation, it has been able to eradicate corruption and establish an Islamic government in various provinces and the capital in a very short period of time”. He said the emirate almost completely eliminated the years of strife and fragmentation in the whole country and was able to bring 95 percent of the country under the control of the central government.
The spokesman said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan had always tried to solve the problems with the opposition through talks. “The ongoing issue in the country which came about 10 years ago has been between two fundamental elements: on the one side is Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and on the other is the United States and its foreign allies,” he said. Sources said the US and Taliban started another round of talks in Qatar last month just a week ago before the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan. But the talks were in the initial stage and Taliban demanded release of some prisoners as well as initial agreement about political office somewhere around Doha was discussed. The negotiators from Taliban’s side are Tayyab Agha, former head of Taliban Chief Mullah Omer’s office, Maulvi Dilawar, Taliban’s former diplomat, and probably Mullah Abdul Aziz, a former first secretary of the defunct regime’s embassy in the United Arab Emirates and now a businessman in Doha. Some sources said another Taliban diplomat Sohail Shaheen was part of the negotiation as a translator.
Parliamentarian: Meanwhile, Afghan parliamentarian Huma Sultani, who had asserted to have strong contacts with Taliban chief Mullah Omer, on Sunday claimed that no negotiation was going on between Taliban and the US in Qatar.
In an exclusive interview with Online from Kabul via telephone, she claimed that Tayyab Agha or others in Qatar are not representing Taliban.
She said a US general from Pentagon, whose name she said could not reveal, and US Ambassador to Afghanistan Rayan C Crocker recently contacted Malikzai, a man she claimed a messenger between her and Mullah Omer, to hold direct talks with US officials in Qatar but Omer refused to do so. When she was asked how could the news be false if Taliban themselves were confirming it and demanding the release of prisoners in US custody, Sultani said, “Well, destiny of a few prisoners is not so important for us or even for Mullah Omer and destiny of 30 million Afghans is more important. So, Taliban stress US to quit Afghanistan.” Interestingly, she said the US had interfered in the communication system and the confirmation was not by the Taliban but was a confirmation under their name.
