As Obama delays troops drawdown from Afghanistan, Taliban oppose military solution

The group says it is ready to negotiate to end long-standing war in Afghanistan if their 'legitimate demands' are...

ISLAMABAD: As US President Barack Obama announced on Thursday a delay in troops’ drawdown from Afghanistan, Afghan Taliban say military action is not the solution to the years-long conflict.

“The Islamic Emirate believes a military solution is not a way out of the Afghan issue. All problems can be resolved through dialogue after the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghan soil,” said a Taliban statement on Thursday.

The group said it was “ready to initiate meaningful negotiations” for ending the long-standing war in Afghanistan if their “legitimate demands” were met.

Read: Kabul wants Islamabad ‘give up Taliban support’

However, they renewed their conditions, which include an end to the “US-led occupation” of Afghanistan.

Afghan Taliban last month took over the northern city of Kunduz for a brief period until it was reclaimed following US air strikes.

“The continuation of oppression, occupation and invasion is not in the interest of anyone,” the Taliban leadership council said.

Afghan Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdulah, who was in New York to attend a UN General Assembly session at the time of the Taliban control of Kunduz, had said “American and Afghan generals are considering to maintain American troops in Afghanistan after 2016.”

Read: Obama to slow pace of withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan

“I have asked all of the Nato partners to remain flexible and to consider the possibility of making adjustments into the plan for the presence in Afghanistan. We need to do an assessment,” the US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter told a Nato defence ministers meeting in Brussels on October 8.