Former US Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed hope that the Taliban can be persuaded to accept terms which do not predicate the end of the existing government in Afghanistan.
“The world needs peace and the Afghans need peace,” Kerry said in an interview DW on the sidelines of Munich Security Conference. “The world does not need 18 years, 20 years, 30 years of war. It is insanity and so hopefully the Taliban can be persuaded to accept terms which do not predicate the end of the existing government.
“There has got to be an effort to find a middle of compromise,” Kerry continued.
Kerry, who is a distinguished fellow at Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, admired Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been leading US negotiations with the Taliban.
“He works diligently and hard and I hope people can come together and make something happen,” Kerry said.
On withdrawal of US troops, Kerry said that it has to have a sufficient platform so that if the Taliban were to “break their word, there is an immediate ability to be able to stop them from having a military solution.”
“I think that is critical and we need a platform of some kind to deal with counter-terrorism, to deal with ungoverned spaces which is the reason we went there in the first place when Osama bin Laden used Afghanistan as the launching pad to attack the United States, totally unprovoked and out of the blue,” Kerry said. “So, that is why we went there and I think it is important to get that reality as we change the dynamic of the country, but it is very important to try to work to change that dynamic.”
Kerry also said that China, Russia and Turkmenistan and other countries could become guarantors and become involved in helping to make a peace.
“We need to see those people also be engaged to be brought to the table,” Kerry said.
