Taliban ready for talks with groups resisting 'foreign occupation'

Ghani's peace plan received a lot of international attention but failed to remedy Taliban hostility

Afghan Taliban on Tuesday expressed willingness to initiate dialogue with the leaders of local groups resisting the United States' "foreign occupation".

The stance was expressed in a statement that termed the 2001 US-led military invasion of Afghanistan as an 'ongoing tragedy' and remained mum over Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's recently-announced peace plan.



Taliban's Qatar based political office invites Afghans "who do not support the invaders, be they jihadi personalities or otherwise" to exchange views on how to end "foreign occupation" and establish an Islamic system and start a political reconciliation process in the country, it read.

The statement came after former governor Ismail Khan extended an offer to initiate peace talks. Khan, a former Jihadi leader, had earlier told the Taliban that if they were not willing to engage in peace talks with the Afghan government then they should broker a "a deal with the great family of jihad" to resolve conflict. Khan was referring to Afghan Islamic organisations that waged a holy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

As part of Ashraf Ghani's 'comprehensive' peace plan, the Taliban were promised a political office in Kabul, issuance of passports to insurgents and a ceasefire. The plan received a lot of international attention but failed to remedy Taliban hostility.



Despite several negotiation processes being initiated by successive Afghan governments, the Taliban insist on holding direct talks with the United States, terming rulers 'American puppets'. However, the US has said that any peace process should be Afghan led and owned. The government issued caveats this week on the fate of the Taliban political office in Qatar being linked to a response on Ghani’s peace talks offer.

This story originally appeared in VOA.