Daily Times

Afghan Taliban looked unconvinced when US President Donald Trump announced in the State of the Union address that his administration is ‘working to finally end America’s longest war and bring troops back home’.

Although the US president said ‘peace talks are underway’ with the Taliban in Qatar, both sides have differed over the details of ‘reduction in violence’ before signing of the peace agreement.

The Taliban leaders claim the US now calls for a ‘complete ceasefire’ that they believe is deviation from its previous stance. Taliban chief Maulvi Haibtullah allowed political representatives last month to agree to the US demand for reduction in violence to pave the way for signing the agreement.

The controversy over the question of ceasefire is delaying signing of the peace agreement that both sides had finalized in August and was scheduled to be signed in mid-September last year. However, President Donald Trump abruptly called off talks on September 7 after a Taliban bomber killed an American soldier and 10 other people including a Romanian soldier in Kabul.

The talks resumed after three months in early December last year but again paused after the Taliban carried out an attack near the Bagram air field, killing at least two persons and injuring over 70 others.

President Trump briefly mentioned Afghanistan in his annual address. “It is also not our function to serve other nations as a law enforcement agency. These are warfighters, the best in the world, and they either want to fight to win or not fight at all. We are working to finally end America’s longest war (in Afghanistan) and bring our troops back home,” he said amid clapping by the lawmakers and guests. “In Afghanistan, the determination and valor of our warfighters has allowed us to make tremendous progress, and peace talks are underway. I am not looking to kill hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan, many of them innocent,” Trump said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid quickly responded to Trump’s remarks and said actions are more important than words. “This is important to prove by actions instead of making statements and promises,” Mujahid told Daily Times. “We will closely watch Trump’s actions and not his speeches. We also want that the US stops this war, ends invasion and respects freedom of Afghans. War is not in anyone’s interest,” he said.

Sources in Qatar said on Wednesday that US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has returned to Doha after holding talks in Kabul and Islamabad on the peace process. But it is unclear if he has started meetings with the Taliban.

Earlier Khalilzad visited Brussels for consultations with NATO officials.

A Taliban official says that Qatar is now actively involved in talks in view of differences as the Taliban are disagreed with the American notion of ceasefire. Taliban had agreed not to carry out attacks in major cities including Kabul and to avoid car bombs during seven to 10 days before signing of the agreement. But the Taliban official says Taliban will declare a complete ceasefire as both sides ink the deal.