KABUL: Kai Eide, the former special representative of United Nations to Afghanistan, has said that the talks between the Afghan government and Taliban should be conducted with “too many conditions”, adding that closing down the Taliban’s office in Doha will be a mistake.
In an interview with Afghan TV, he said the peace process with the group should be carried out in an orderly way. “I believe that contacts, meaningful contacts, with the Taliban are possible. They have to be pursued systematically and through the right channels,” he said.
“I believe that Doha office has served a useful purpose and could be even more important. I see the discussing about possibly closing it or not closing it, I think it would be a mistake to close it,” he said.
The former UN envoy said the Afghan government should give a type of legitimacy to the Taliban if it wants to see results from the peace process.
“In any conflict when a government sits down with an insurgency movement or opposition movement, you do give some kind of legitimacy to that movement,” he said in response to a question about the role of the Taliban’s Qatar office.
He said the new US strategy is in favour of Afghanistan and that the peace process should be supported following the policy.
“If you look at the American strategy, I think it was a right of the US to provide some more troops to Afghanistan. I think it was important from a military point of view, I think it was important from political point of view and from a morale point of view of Afghan troops,” he said.
He said the role of Pakistan is essential in the Afghan peace process but that the neighboring country will not be able to bring the Taliban to the peace table.