Abdullah expects talks with Taliban in six months

NEW DELHI:

Afghanistan expects to restart peace talks with the Taliban within six months, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said on Thursday, pinning hopes on factions within the militant group he said might be ready to give up violence.

"There might be groups among the Taliban who might be willing to talk and give up violence," Abdullah told Reuters in an interview in New Delhi, where he held talks with Indian leaders on bilateral issues. "It should be sooner than six months," he said, when asked when he expected talks with the Taliban to begin.



He said there had been some contact between Taliban factions willing to give up violence and Afghan security agencies, but he declined to give further details.

His comments came ahead of a meeting between the United States, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan in Islamabad on February 6 to lay the ground for talks that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government wants to conduct with the insurgent group.

China, Pakistan and the United States had agreed to use their influence to facilitate talks with the Taliban, Abdullah said.  The countries are discussing issues including where to hold talks with Taliban factions who decide to come to the table and what to do about those who stay away, he added.

Any talks with the Taliban will be led by the Afghans, he said. "How it moves forward and what it takes, nobody can judge at this stage," Abdullah said.



Despite the ongoing effort to restart negotiations, the Taliban have ramped up their campaign of violence across Afghanistan from the start of the year, with suicide attacks and territorial gains in southern Helmand province.

Abdullah said he expected US forces to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2016 in some form and that an extended presence was necessary to support the government. "The reality is that there is this number of troops and they are doing an effective job in support of our institutions, in equipping, in assisting, in training," Abdullah said.

"My perception is that the presence will continue beyond 2016 in one form or another, and that is needed."

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th,  2016.