Taliban's refusal to sit with Kabul impediment to peace

By Vakkas Dogantekin

ANKARA (AA) - Taliban's reluctance to sit down with the government in Afghanistan has "cooled down" the peace process, the Afghan envoy to Turkey said.

Ambassador Abdul Rahim Sayed Jan told Anadolu Agency that there is no progress in the peace process because of Taliban's reluctance to talk to the Afghan government.

Answering Anadolu Agency's questions at a reception to celebrate the 71st Independence Day of Sri Lanka in Ankara, Jan said: "Once Taliban rejected to sit with the Afghan government, the whole process now cooled down."

"Americans are trying to convince them [Taliban] to sit down with Kabul. Without sitting with Kabul, it [peace process] does not mean anything. They are fighting against the government and state, so it is the government who they should talk with," added Jan.

He also mentioned U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks on his State of the Union address on Tuesday, in which he said the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was tied to the development of the peace process.

Regarding a Taliban official's claim reported by the media on Wednesday that the U.S. has promised to withdraw from Afghanistan in two months, Jan dismissed it as a Taliban propaganda.

Speaking about a recent meeting between Taliban representatives and former Afghan officials in Moscow, he said that it was an informal gathering that had nothing to do with Afghan or Russian governments.

However, he said, the Afghan government will wait to see what they bring on the table.

"Everybody is talking about peace, but how is it going to be reached? No concrete proposal has been made except by the government of Afghanistan," Jan concluded.