Small Wars Journal

Afghan Government’s Negotiating Position Completely at Odds with Taliban’s

Thu, 11/29/2018 - 2:52am

Afghan Government’s Negotiating Position Completely at Odds with Taliban’s by Bill Roggio – Long War Journal

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani laid out the government’s conditions for peace with the Taliban, and not surprisingly, its demands are completely at odds with those of the Taliban. Ghani called for negotiations that are driven by Afghans, which is the opposite of what is actually occurring today.

Ghani outlined his government’s roadmap for negotiations today during the Geneva Conference on Afghanistan.

“We seek a peace agreement in which the Afghan Taliban would be included in a democratic and inclusive society, Ghani said, according to TOLONews. The peace agreement would include “the following tenets” [note, the following bullet points are quoted directly from TOLONews]:

• The Constitutional rights and obligations, of all citizens, especially women, are ensured.

• The Constitution is accepted, or amendments proposed through the constitutional provision.

• The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces and civil service function according to law.

• No armed groups with ties to transnational terrorist networks or transnational criminal organizations, or with ties to state/non-state actors, seeking influence in Afghanistan will be allowed to join the political process.

The Afghan government’s conditions for peace are completely at odds with those of the Taliban…

Read on.