Wording glitch stalls progress on Afghan talks

Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A13

December 2, 2020

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Wording glitch stalls progress on Afghan talks

Source: Agencies | 00:00 UTC+8 December 2, 2020 |

Print Edition

A BREAKTHROUGH on an initial agreement reached between Taliban and Afghan government negotiators has been held up at the last minute after the insurgent group balked at the document’s preamble because it mentioned the Afghan government by name.

Teams representing the Taliban and the Afghan government have been negotiating in the Qatari capital Doha since September in a bid to reach a consensus on peace talks, moving forward to help end decades of war in Afghanistan.

“The negotiating teams have so far agreed on all 21 articles that provide guiding principles for the negotiations,” Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said in a statement on Monday. “At this time, they continue to debate the preamble, in which some issues need further clarification.”

Government and diplomatic sources said that when it came to signing the document which was to include references to the “Islamic Republic of Afghanistan” (the official name of the Afghan government,) in November, the Taliban backed off over the wording.

The Taliban refuse to refer to the Afghan negotiating team as representatives of the Afghan government, as they contest the legitimacy of Ghani’s election.

“(The government and Taliban) prepared to sign the agreement,” a diplomat in Kabul familiar with process said. The diplomat added that the chief Afghan government negotiator was to sign the agreement as the “chief negotiator for the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,” but “the Taliban refused to accept that.”

The Taliban did not immediately respond to request for comment but had earlier said that their stance was to negotiate with Afghans broadly and would not recognize them as negotiators representing the government.

World

About Us
|
Terms of Use
|
RSS
|
Privacy Policy
|
Contact Us
|
Shanghai Call Center: 962288
|
Tip-off hotline: 52920043

沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
|
互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
|
网络视听许可证：0909346
|
广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
|
增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012

Wording glitch stalls progress on Afghan talks

Email this to your friend