CE Abdullah Backs HPC’s Offer of Opening Office for Taliban in Kabul

Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah on Sunday said that there should not be any bar to the Taliban to open a representative office in Kabul if the group is ready to initiate “serious” peace talks with the Afghan government.

Speaking during a news conference on Sunday in Kabul, Abdullah said that the government is ready to enter into the peace process with the Taliban without any preconditions.

“When the time comes and the Taliban was ready for serious talks [with the government] and say,  we do not want any office in abroad but to have it in Kabul, then there shouldn’t be any obstacle in front of it,” he said.

Chief Executive, however, stressed that peace with the Taliban does not mean to trample people’s rights. “It [peace] is not a gift being in someone’s pocket and hands it over to preferred ones.”

This comes as the Taliban reportedly has rejected the High Peace Council’s (HPC) offer, saying their rivals are “American occupation” forces who have installed the Kabul regime.

The Taliban has been unofficially running its so called political office in Qatar since 2013; however, the Afghan government has refused to recognize the facility and lately, President Ghani has pushed the Gulf state officials to close the group’s office in the face of intensified attacks by the insurgents across Afghanistan.

By Shakib Mahmud and Fawad Naseri