Taliban announce 21 names for its intra-Afghan negotiating team
Amin Alemi
Press TV, Kabul
The Taliban have announced the names of 21 of its members who are set to represent the group in the upcoming intra-Afghan talks in the Qatari capital, Doha.
Despite the announcement, last-minute changes in the negotiating team have sparked concerns in Afghanistan.
Some are wary that major issues for the Afghan civil society, including women’s rights, will be rejected by the militant group.
Other issues at stake are press freedom and the constitution.
Media activists, advocacy groups and legal organizations want the government’s negotiating team to stand its ground on critical issues given the sacrifices the nation has made over the past two decades.
The government introduced its delegation earlier.
The talks were to begin earlier this month but Kabul’s refusal to release a number of Taliban inmates and a rise in violence by the Taliban hampered the process.
The talks are a component of a peace deal the United States signed with the Taliban in February in Doha. The agreement requires the withdrawal of all foreign military forces from Afghanistan by July 2021 in return for counterterrorism assurances.
Delays over the exchange of prisoners – 5,000 held by the government and 1,000 by the Taliban – have been a noteworthy obstacle to talks.
Official statistics show more than 150,000 Afghan civilians and foreign military forces have been killed since 2001.
Both sides of the negotiations – the statesmen and the militants – are now being urged by the nation to seize the opportunity and work for an urgent ceasefire in order to end the decades-long misery.
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