The Taliban’s political wing is ready to enter peace talks to end the war in Afghanistan, but the insurgents will, in the meantime, continue their armed struggle, the group said on Thursday, Time magazine reported.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the militants had been fighting for the past 15 years to establish an Islamic government in Afghanistan “in accordance with the request of its people”.
“It is for this purpose and for bringing about peace and stability in Afghanistan that we have increased our political efforts to come to mutual understanding with the world in order to solve the current ongoing situation,” Mujahid said in an emailed statement.
“But this understanding does not mean a surrender from jihad and neither is it connected to an acceptance of the constitution of the stooge Kabul administration.”
For the past month, rumors have swirled about the possibility of peace talks between the US-led coalition and the Taliban in Qatar.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared to acknowledge US efforts to jump-start a peace process with the militants in order to help bring an end to the decade-long war. Washington has been mulling releasing several Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo as a confidence-building measure.
Clinton also indicated progress on the related effort to open a political representative office for the Taliban in Qatar, whose role as would-be host for peace talks has gained reluctant approval from Afghan President Hamid Karzai last month, Time said.
One of the international community’s and the government’s conditions for reconciliation is that the Taliban must accept the Afghan constitution, meaning they must recognise Karzai’s government. Mujahid’s outright rejection of this is likely to be a key roadblock in the peace process, it said.
Video:
Meanwhile, the Taliban said the video showing alleged American forces urinating on dead Taliban fighters would not harm nascent efforts to broker peace talks, Reuters reported.
The video, posted on YouTube and other websites, shows four men in camouflage Marine combat uniforms urinating on three corpses. One of them jokes: “Have a nice day, buddy.” Another makes a lewd joke.
Despite concerns when the video first emerged that it would not help his efforts build confidence among the warring parties, a Taliban spokesman said although the images were shocking, the tape would not affect talks or a mooted prisoner release.
“This is not the first time we see such brutality,” Mujahid said.
The US Marine Corps has said it will investigate. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan described the acts depicted in the video as “disrespectful” and “inexplicable”.
In the US, two military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the video appeared to be authentic, but Reuters could not verify it or its source independently.