Taliban accuse US of delaying Afghanistan peace talks

KABUL: The Taliban lashed out at Washington, accusing them of holding up negotiations over a potential withdrawal deal that would see the Americans end their 18-year war in Afghanistan.

Washington and the Taliban are still wrangling over a possible deal that would see US troops begin to leave Afghanistan in return for security guarantees.

However, there appears to have been little progress in reaching a deal in recent weeks, prompting the Taliban to saddle blame on the White House and what they say are a growing list of demands by the Americans to pave the way for a deal.

The Taliban “has the intention and capacity for a resolution," said spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a tweet.

“Negotiation process has been harmed by Trump’s tweet, numerous US demands and quarrel between US and Kabul officials. Pompeo should refrain from blame-shifting. Our stance in principled and concerted — unlike them," he added.

Afghan Taliban ready for 10-day ceasefire: report

The Taliban’s remarks came a day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the insurgents must make "demonstrable evidence of their will and capacity to reduce violence" in order to reach an agreement during a meeting with Central Asian officials in Uzbekistan.

Taliban sources told AFP last month they had offered to initiate a brief ceasefire of seven to 10 days to help secure a deal, but there was no announcement of the details of the proposal by either party.

The tweet also came days after Zalmay Khalilzad — the US special envoy leading negotiations with the Taliban — launched a new round of shuttle diplomacy by travelling to both Pakistan and Afghanistan to brief officials on the status of the talks.

In recent weeks, the US has been largely quiet on the exact status of the negotiations, while the Taliban have insisted they were prepared to reduce fighting to move talks forward.

The US and Taliban had been negotiating the deal for a year and were on the brink of an announcement in September 2019 when President Donald Trump abruptly declared the process "dead", citing Taliban violence.

Talks were later restarted in December in Qatar but paused again following an attack near the US-run Bagram military base in Afghanistan.

As talks have fluctuated, violent attacks in the country have raged, with the number of clashes jumping to record levels in the last quarter of 2019, according to a US government watchdog report released last week.

Read also: Afghan government calls for complete ceasefire amid US-Taliban talks

Last month the Afghan government had said its people and the government reject the proposed "reduction in violence" by the Taliban as an "ambiguous term with no legal or military parameters".

“Any suggestion the Taliban have shared with the US must include ceasefire as it is the demand of our people," government spokesperson Sediq Sediqqi had said.

The spokesperson said that ending the war and bringing peace to the country are priorities of the government of Afghanistan and “the president and the people of Afghanistan have always insisted on a ceasefire.”