Taliban demanding 'lion's share of power' in any new Afghan govt amid stalled peace talks

The Taliban and the Afghanistan government are still poles apart in the United States-backed peace negotiations with the insurgent group demanding “the lion’s share of power” in any new government in the war-stricken country, said the special US envoy on August 3. Afghan-born US veteran diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad assessed that Taliban-Afghan peace process as the extremists continue to make political advancements on provincial capitals that have uprooted tens of thousands of civilians as the US troop withdrawal nears its completion after 20 years of war.

"At this point, they (the Taliban) are demanding that they take the lion's share of power in the next government given the military situation as they see it," Khalilzad told the Aspen Security Forum in an online conference.

The deadlocked talks in Doha between the Taliban and the Kabul government were the subject of a telephonic conversation on Tuesday between the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The US State Department also said in a statement that both sides agreed on the need to ramp up the peace talks. Blinken and Ghani also “condemned the ongoing Taliban attacks and displacement of the civilian population," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

'Sudden US Troop Withdrawal Is Worsening Situation'

Earlier, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani on August 2 said the country’s deteriorating situation in the face of the Taliban's advancements is due to the “sudden” decision of the United States to withdraw its troops. However, Ghani also added that his government had a plan to bring the situation under control within a period of six months. With the withdrawal of American troops, Taliban insurgents have moved into three provincial capitals in the last few days. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has already announced that American soldiers would leave the war-stricken country by September. 

In a speech to the Afghan parliament, Ghani said, “The current situation is due to a sudden decision on the withdrawal of the international troops...We have had an unexpected situation in the last three months."

He added that the Afghan government had a security plan in place to tackle the situation within six months and that the US supported the plan. According to Ghani, the extremist group would not have moved towards peace unless the worsening security situation was curbed. The Afghan government and the Taliban insurgents started peace talks last year in the Qatari capital of Doha. However, both sides failed to make any significant progress despite a few rounds of talks.  At a recent meeting in Doha between both delegations, the sides committed to ramping up the negotiations.

IMAGE: AP