Afghan Presidential Advisor Says Taliban Still Not Pursuing Peace 1 Year After US Deal

KABUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st March, 2021) The Afghan people want a ceasefire with the Taliban, but the radical movement has yet to prove its commitment to the peace agreement signed with the United States last February, Senior Adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Nader Nadery, said on Monday.

Nadery made the statement on the first anniversary of the 2020 peace agreement between Washington and the Taliban, which envisaged the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan provided that the radical movement would reduce violence and start peace negotiations with Kabul.

"A year since Taliban pretended to make peace. 1523 Civilians including civil society activists were killed since then.

Our people are outraged by this degree of violence. They want peace &an immediate ceasefire. IRoA [Islamic Republic of Afghanistan] pursued this goal faithfully, Taliban are yet to show the same," Nadery wrote on Twitter.

The Kabul-Taliban peace talks kicked off in Doha last September but have so far failed to put an end to the confrontation on the ground. On the contrary, Afghanistan has witnessed a spate of bomb attacks and clashes in recent months, with the military continuing to regularly conduct operations against Taliban operatives, who are now said to control some three-quarters of Afghan land.�