Ashraf Ghani calls Taliban for serious talks'

Kabul: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Monday the Taliban should “enter serious talks” with his government, after the insurgents and Washington both touted progress during unprecedented negotiations in Qatar last week.

A months-long diplomatic push by the United States to get the Taliban to talk to Kabul culminated in six days of meetings between the US and the insurgents in Doha, but the Taliban have long refused to negotiate with the Afghan government to end the 17-year conflict, branding them as “puppets.”

“I call on the Taliban to... Show their Afghan will, and accept Afghans’ demand for peace, and enter serious talks with the Afghan government,” Mr Ghani said in a nationally televised address from the presidential palace in Kabul.

Both the Taliban and the US cited “progress” over the weekend as hopes rise that the length of the negotiations could mean a deal may be in sight which paves the way for Afghan talks.

Sticking points remain, with topics including a ceasefire and a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops, as well as a prisoner exchange and a guarantee not to allow militant safe havens in Afghanistan believed to have been on the agenda.

US President Donald Trump’s clear eagerness to end America’s longest war has also weighed heavy on the discussions.

But Afghan authorities have previously complained of being excluded from the talks in Qatar, and warned that any deal between the US and the Taliban would require Kabul’s endorsement.

“We want peace, we want it fast but we want it with a plan,” Mr Ghani said in his address Monday.