Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has warned that the West bears the responsibility if drug trade increases following the release of final batch of Taliban prisoners.
Speaking in an interview with UK’s The Times, Ghani said that the 400 prisoners “stand for everything that breaks my heart.”
“They have killed both our international guests and our people, they have a lot of blood in their hands, there are people who are large drug dealers, etc, violence against women,” Ghani said.
“If drugs go through the roof in the United Kingdom and Europe, all your leaders have been part of this,” Ghani said. “If amphetamines reach the shores of the United States we should know that these are the consequences, and if these people commit crimes, there’s shared international responsibility.”
The government agreed last week to release the 400 “hard-core” prisoners after consulting a grand assembly of elders and other community leaders, known as a Loya Jirga. Only 80 of them have been released so far.
They are part of prisoners the Taliban are demanding before they agree to enter into peace talks.
Ghani said that ceasefire will be the first time of the agenda when direct negotiations begin.
“Unfortunately, peace has not been socialized among their commanders and among their fighters,” Ghani said.
Asked if the US was in a rush to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, Ghani said that “a war-affected country does not have the luxury of determining the policies and strategies of its major partners”
