Return of Taliban’s Islamic Emirate would be unacceptable and a new working governance formula should emerge in Afghanistan, US peace envoy said on Saturday.
Speaking in an interview in Doha with 1TV, Zalmay Khalilzad said Afghanistan has had a bad experience of a political group trying to impose its ideology on others, the result of which has been war.
He said that the Taliban state that they support a political solution and an inclusive formula.
The envoy said that the sides should take the negotiations seriously and seize the opportunity for peace.
“A lot of efforts have been made to take Afghanistan to this point, the chance should be seized,” Khalilzad said.
The envoy said that the United States is in its second phase of troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and the number will be reduced to 4,500 by the end of November. He said that further reduction will depend on the conditions.
Khalilzad warned that there are spoilers in Afghanistan, “who prefer the status quo, don’t want the United States to withdraw its troops from the country, want the existing aid flow to continue, don’t want others to participate in economic and political power, see their post at risk both politically and economically, don’t put the country first, put themselves first. Some terrorist groups such as Daesh also don’t want it (peace) to happen.”
