Vice President Saleh pulls no punches as he discusses Afghan peace process   

Afghanistan’s First Vice President Amrullah Saleh said this week that if the Taliban backs out of peace talks it will be a “slap in the face” to the international community and to peace itself and that the Taliban will try to “use violence to get more concessions.”

He also said the United States, the European Union and NATO can not state the peace process is purely Afghan – not when it has been a global war and that any peace deal reached would be one of the hardest agreements in history. 

In an interview broadcast by Al Arabiya, Saleh said that if the Taliban backs out of peace talks following the release of all prisoners, it will be a “slap in the face.”

“Should the Taliban find another excuse [to avoid peace talks], it will be a slap in the face to the international community who told us this is the last excuse, and it will be a slap in the face to peace itself,” said Saleh.

Saleh, who described himself as being “politically on the opposite side of the Taliban,” warned that the Taliban will try to “use violence to get more concessions.”

He said the Taliban will increase violence, put up more checkpoints on highways will “complicate the peace and if they make more excuses it will make it difficult for us” to enter into a deal with them.  

“Making peace with the Taliban is neither surrendering to the Taliban nor demanding the Taliban surrender to us.”

“It’s bringing two ways of life under one national ceiling. It will be co-existence,” Saleh said.

“In my view, the Taliban are a distortional expression of Islam, they are a deviation in the body of Islam, they are a deviation in the body of the Afghan culture, they are a deviation and a deviated group in the context of our history. They don’t represent us. They don’t represent me, my family, my country, my community.

“But because of violence, they have become a reality,” he said. 

He said they lack a political manifest and all they know “is a gun in their hand looking at your forehead. The moment they put down that gun, what other skill do they have to be used in society” he asked. 

“Nothing!” Saleh said. 

“Why should I forgive or forget that type of a group?”

But he pointed out that this does not mean he won’t embrace peace. “But I will always fly their crimes in their face. They are criminals”. 

On a possible peace settlement, Saleh said it would have to ensure the safety of all Afghans, “respect for everyone, respect for diversity.”

“If I try to put a tie on the neck of the Taliban the peace process will fail. But if they try to put a turban on my head, it will also fail.”

“So the solution is a turban and a suit both under the same ceiling. That is how we look at the peace process. Any side trying to dominate will make it fail,” he said. 

On US troops withdrawal, Saleh said the Afghan government would not “beg the West to stay” but added that it was in their interests to stay – in one form or another. 

Running through the reasons he said it would be of benefit for the West to stay in Afghanistan “economic-wise or development-wise, diplomatically and politically, intelligence-wise and a foothold of military.”

He said if the West pulled out, the question that would then need to be asked would be “what is the use of NATO if they can’t resolve an issue in which they were so much invested for two decades.”

Saleh said that the West should also be asking themselves what type of peace do they want to see in Afghanistan in a “place they fought”. 

He pointed out the war has never been purely Afghan and said “it’s not going to be a purely Afghan peace.”

He emphasized that the United States, the European Union and NATO can not state the peace process is purely Afghan. 

“No! This is a global peace process, as it was a global war,” he stated.