Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump’s new strategy for Afghanistan has no impact on Afghan Taliban’s military strategy. “We have ‘overrun’ more areas in recent weeks,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Daily Times on Thursday.

“We are making progress and we still control all areas we have taken from the US-backed forces. We expand our presence to new areas everyday,” he said in messages exchanged over WhatsApp.

Mujahid said the militia’s policy was to “liberate our homeland. We have chalked out new plans for that.”

Mujahid evaded a question on military plans adopted in view of Donald Trump’s latest strategy that focuses on air power. “New plans are in place but I cannot share details as they are operational secrets,” he said.

The Taliban spokesman refused comment on the possibility of peace negotiations.

Meanwhile, Daily Times has learnt that consultations were underway between the Taliban and some countries in the region to push for negotiations.

“There is no contact between the Taliban Qatar office and the Afghan government at the moment. We are, however, in contact with other countries. These contacts are aimed at exploring ways to move forward. Some of these countries are members of the UN Security Council,” another Taliban source privy to the development told Daily Times.

“We do not want to share anything related to these talks with the media at the moment as it can harm things before any progress. The focus is to achieve headway in promotion of the political dialogue,” the source said.

Asked if China and Russia had a role in peace efforts, he said both countries’ role would be significant given that they were UNSC members and were also Afghanistan’s important neighbours.

“We have welcomed their active role and interest in political solution of Afghan problem. The role of Qatar is also very important because they have allowed us to open office and stay there. The role of Organisation of Islamic Countries cannot be ruled out either,” he said.

He, however, pointed out that there had been no progress on the political front because the U.S. was not showing any willingness to talk to the Taliban on a timeframe for the withdrawal of foreign troops.

However, he said the militia was still ready for face-to-face talks with the US to discuss a timeframe for a permanent end to the invasion. “Taliban do not want withdrawal of troops as a precondition for peace talks,” he clarified.

Asked why the Taliban were not ready to talk to the Afghan government like Hekmatyar had done, the spokesperson said the militia’s top priority was to end the invasion, and not to get any share in the government.

“We cannot start a dialogue with the Afghan government until the Taliban and the US agree on a mechanism to end the invasion. Power sharing is not important for us but ending the invasion is,” he said.

Hours before the Taliban’s comments, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had used his address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday to offer dialogue to the Taliban, the offer the militia have rejected on grounds that the Kabul administration was powerless to make any decision.

Published in Daily Times, September 22^nd 2017.