KABUL – The unconfirmed reports about handing over a part of the war-ravaged Afghanistan’s territory to Taliban have prompted concerns among the senior members of former regimes, likening the move to the disintegration of the country.
Former vice president Mohammad Younus Qanooni expressed his concerns that such a move will indicate the success of a conspiracy that the enemies of Afghanistan have been looking for over the years.
Addressing the audience at the ceremony on the seventh death anniversary of former Kunduz police chief Abdul Rahman Sayedkhaili in Parwan province, Qanooni expressed that if a corner of this common land was handed over to someone under any reason, it will mean the fragmentation of Afghanistan and the success of the conspiracy which the ‘enemies of Afghanistan have been looking for over the years’.
At the same event, former minister of interior Mohammad Umer Daudzai claimed that there were credible pieces of evidence about the efforts to extend the tenure of the National Unity Government.
“We will not allow them (government leaders) to stay even for one day once their five-year term is completed,” Daudzai asserted.
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On the other hand, the Presidential Palace dismissed rumors about handing over a province to the Taliban as part of government’s peace offer to the group.
“Remarks about the handover of particular geography (to the Taliban) are not true,” Dawa Khan Minapal, deputy spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, told Afghan media outlet TOLOnews.
Previously, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hizb-e-Islami – more referred to as butcher of Kabul – suggested the handover of some regions to the Taliban as ‘safe zones’.
Hekmatyar went a mile more and claimed that President Ashraf Ghani was also agreed with this scheme.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah called for unity and safeguard of Afghanistan’s territorial integrity as he addressed the event.
“Our expectation from those who join peace is to focus on unity among the people of Afghanistan in their words and actions. They must think about the unity of Afghans instead of thinking about division among the people of Afghanistan,” said Abdullah.
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It is noteworthy that Last month, Ghani expressed his readiness to initiate negotiations with Taliban asserting that ceasefire must be agreed upon adding that peace needs to be sought with the Taliban in order for them to become a political group.
“The Afghan government must be accepting and we will also work on the list of freeing Taliban prisoners”, he opined as he opened the second Kabul Process meeting in the Afghan capital.
Moreover, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis expressed that the United States was picking up signs of interest from Taliban in exploring the possibility of talks to put an end to the war started in 2001.
“We’ve had some groups of Taliban who have either started to come over or expressed an interest in talking,” he claimed as he landed in Afghanistan, signaling a shift in US policy.
