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US urges Taliban to consider Afghanistan's offer for peace talks
[DAWN] The United States (US) on Monday called on the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
to consider an offer for peace talks extended by Afghanistan's Caped President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
Ghani at an international conference in Kabul last week unveiled a plan to open talks with the Taliban, including eventually recognising them as a political party.

In return, Ghani said the turbans should officially recognise the Afghan government and constitution, a perennial sticking point in past attempts to open talks.

Taliban front man Zabiullah Mujahid has maligned the Kabul Process, tweeting that the conference sought the Taliban's "surrender".

Alice Wells, the principal deputy assistant secretary for the State Department's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, told news hounds she had been struck by Ghani's proposal.

"I heard him offering a dignified process," she said.

"This is not a surrender that's being offered to the Taliban, but a dignified process for reaching a political framework," she added, noting that the Kabul conference was "really a historic benchmark event".

Wells said the Afghan government had "listened carefully" to the Taliban and was responsive to a number of their requests.


Posted by: Fred 2018-03-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=509614