President Ashraf Ghani has said that the neighbors of Afghanistan and US can talk and reach agreement with any Afghan group but his government cannot be sidelined in the process.
In an interview with the BBC, Ghani said his government is in contact with the Taliban.
“There is a very simple issue. They can have any deal with any group of Afghans. The government of Afghanistan cannot be sidelined,” said Ghani.
Ghani’s remarks over having contact with the Taliban are expressed as Taliban has repeatedly refused to sit with his negotiators.
The president who is in Munich met with many foreign officials and talked about peace.
He met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg and Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Mogherini said the Afghan government should form a comprehensive negotiating team to conduct peace talks.
She said the European Union is ready to cooperate with Afghanistan in the peace process and the upcoming presidential elections.
Presidential Palace said in a statement that President Ghani and the German Chancellor discussed Afghan-led peace process, regional cooperation and strengthening of stability in Afghanistan. Merkel vowed her support to the implementation of a prospective peace deal, the statement said.
Addressing an event in Kabul on Saturday, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah stressed that reaching peace requires “honest” efforts.
“If there is a real opportunity for reaching peace, I believe that words cannot stop reaching us to peace. But if there are excuses or something else, then it will be different,” said Abdullah.
Amid the accelerated efforts on Afghan peace, Pakistani media have reported that representatives of Taliban will meet with the Crown Prince of SaudiArabia, Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud, this week in Islamabad.
According to the reports, the Saudi prince will arrive in Islamabad on Sunday, February 17, and will stay for two days.
Last week, Taliban said that they will meet with the US officials and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad on 18th of February. According to the group, in their meeting with Khan, they will talk about Afghanistan-Pakistan relationships.
The group has said that the meeting is scheduled in the official invitation of Islamabad which was criticized by the Afghan Chief Executive.
“If it is supposed to send a message to the Taliban’s leadership, I think it would be more effective to send this message through the institutions that directly support Taliban, their sanctuaries and activities, instead of sending the delegation which are working a lot these days and nights to speak with them,” said Abdullah.