'Turkey plays key role in Afghan peacemaking process'

By Halil Silahsor and Ahmet Dursun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey has a fundamental role in Afghanistan’s peacemaking and stability process, an Afghan official said Saturday.

“Turkey, which has historic and friendly relations with Afghanistan, plays fundamental role in providing peacemaking and stability in the country,” Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview.

Abdullah stressed Turkey’s effort to improve relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan and said: Turkey clearly has economical and political power as it acts as a bridge between Asia and Europe.

“In this context, Turkey can be effective to provide more coordination at regional level.”

Abdullah said the main reason of migration waves from Afghanistan is the ongoing war, and added: ''We have created cooperation mechanisms involving immigrants with the United Nations, Turkey and neighboring countries.”

- Afghanistan and Taliban

Abdullah said Afghan people support the peacemaking process between Taliban and the Afghan government with the involvement of the U.S, but they don’t want a Taliban government again.

“Afraid of returning to Taliban-dominated periods, the people of Afghanistan want to preserve their gains and to live in peace even though they have different opinions and ideas,” Abdullah said.

He said the Taliban must terminate its relations with terrorist groups and added: “The Taliban's support to al-Qaeda and the organization’s terrorist attacks carried out outside the country, such as the September 11 attacks, led to the political and military interventions of the international community.”

In peacemaking process, the U.S. wants to be sure that Taliban doesn’t have a relationship with any terrorist organization.”

Abdullah said the influence of other countries, such as Qatar, on the Taliban cannot be underestimated, and added: “No country alone cannot be guarantor of the peacemaking process in Afghanistan.

“If peace is achieved in Afghanistan, it will contribute to the solution of regional crises.”

Earlier in April, the U.S. expressed disappointment over postponement of the landmark peace conference between the Taliban and an Afghan peace delegation in Qatar.

Over 200 Afghan politicians and civil society representatives were set to meet the Taliban in the Qatari capital Doha for what was set to be a momentous development endorsed by Kabul and Washington.

However, Taliban opposed and mocked the large size of the Afghan peace delegation saying the conference in Doha is not a “wedding party”.

The proposed talks are since faced with a deadlock amid efforts to revive the nascent peace process as the raging war continues to claim more lives in the war-ravaged country.

- Pakistan’s new government and Afghanistan

Abdullah said the Pakistani government hasn’t changed its policies on Afghanistan, since Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan assumed his office in August 2018.

“Positive statements have been made, but there are many things that need to be done about mutual respect and recognition of the national sovereignty of countries,” Abdullah said and added: “Afghanistan wants to live in peace without interfering with each other's internal affairs in the framework of mutual respect with neighbors.”

In December, Pakistan confirmed that it had arranged rare direct talks between Washington and the Taliban paving the way for a negotiated settlement of the conflict.

The process, however, is still awaiting a breakthrough as the Taliban have turned down repeated U.S. requests for inclusion of the Kabul government in the talks.

The Kabul government, for its part, complain of being sidelined.

Pakistan facilitated the landmark first round of direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Islamabad in July 2015, but the process broke down after Taliban announced the death of their long-term leader Mullah Omer, triggering a bitter power struggle within the militia.

Chances for a resumption of the stalled process went further dim following the death of Omer’s successor, Mullah Mansur, in a U.S. drone strike in 2016 on Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border.

Since then, several attempts to resume the stalled peace process have been made by a four-nation group comprised of Pakistan, Afghanistan, the U.S. and China.

Until now, however, these attempts have failed to bear fruit except for a few rounds of direct talks between the U.S. and the Taliban.

* Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur