Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: A member of parliament calls on the government to appoint an exclusive negotiating team to take with Taliban as soon as possible.
“We ask the government to soon appoint a large team that includes influential and trustworthy figures so that they could represent the people and government of Afghanistan in face to face talks with the Taliban,” lawmaker, Erfanullah Erfan said Saturday.
The government appointed a 12-member team with one member from the parliament, one from the council of clerics and the rest were government officials for negotiations with Taliban, while the militants have repeatedly rejected requests from the US and some regional states to sit with representatives from Ghani administration which they call the “US puppet”.
The US envoy for Afghan peace, Zalmay Khalilzad has reportedly asked Kabul to expand the team.
The fifth round of Khalilzad negotiations with Taliban is in its 13th day in Qatar and they are yet to reach an agreement.
Political analysts believe that the government should appoint impartial persons in the negotiating team.
“The government should appoint the persons who know Taliban and Pakistan. These people should be wise, impartial and patriotic, should not be impressed and should be skilled to successfully run the talks with Taliban,” said Wadir Safi, lecturer at the Kabul University.
A number of politicians including former government officials met with Taliban in Moscow prior to the Doha negotiations.
