Daily Times

Taliban chief negotiator Sher Abbas Stanekzai disclosed on Friday that the Taliban had agreed to declare ceasefire with the Americans if the peace deal was signed.

Stanekzai told Russian Television in Moscow that the ceasefire would allow a safe passage to the American forces to withdraw from Afghanistan.

“When the agreement is signed, the next day there will be a complete ceasefire between us and the American forces and we will give a safe passage to the American forces,” the Taliban leader said a day after they arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian officials.

He said the intra-Afghan negotiations were scheduled to start on September 23 to discuss a comprehensive and ceasefire with Afghan and other domestic issues.

US President Donald Trump cancelled peace talks with the Taliban at the weekend after the Taliban killed an American soldiers and 10 other people in capital Kabul. He also called off a meeting with the Taliban political envoys in Camp David.

“The next day when Mr Trump cancelled this negotiations, his Foreign Minister Pompeo admitted his forces killed 1000 Taliban. So if they can kill 1000 of us why we cannot kill one of them or two of them,” Stanekzai said.

“So this will be our right to defend ourselves. We have to defend our people. We have to defend the innocent people of Afghanistan. Wherever they attack, bomb, wherever they attack, we will have to defend over people,” the Taliban leader said.

Stanekzai said despite Trump’s cancellation of talks, Taliban are keen to bring peace in Afghanistan through negotiations.

“But unfortunately any time when we reach a final agreement, it was cancelled by the American side and the last cancellation was ordered by Mr Trump,” he said.

Meanwhile Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova urged the Taliban and the US to resume talks as soon as possible with a view to reaching and signing a peace agreement.

“We are convinced that the complete end to foreign military presence is an inalienable condition of durable peace in Afghanistan,” she said at briefing on Thursday.

Talking about Donald Trump’s decision to cancel a closed meeting with the Taliban representatives at Camp David and cease contacts with this movement, the Russian spokesperson said she hopes that the current pause will not undermine the long-term efforts of the sides and the substantial progress achieved at the talks in Doha on a peace settlement in Afghanistan.

“In this context we welcome the Taliban’s statement on its willingness to continue the dialogue with the United States. As before, we believe there is no alternative to a political and diplomatic approach to settling the crisis in Afghanistan,” she said.

Days after President Trump declared the peace process dead, he announced to hit the Taliban “harder than they have ever been hit before.” On Friday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also claimed that over 1000 Taliban fighters have been killed in one week. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid dismissed Ghani’s claim. “We categorically reject this nonsense. If you actually possessed the capability of killing two thousand Mujahideen you would have taken control over a known region of the country and would not have highways closed for you for days on end,” Mujahid said in a statement.