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| Afghanistan |
| Abdullah says Taliban talks could start soon, militants deny |
| 2015-02-24 |
| [DAWN] Afghanistan's chief executive Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... said Monday that peace talks with the Taliban could begin in the coming days, though the faceless myrmidons swiftly dismissed the idea. There have been growing hopes in recent weeks of talks between Kabul and the Taliban aimed at moving towards reconciliation after more than a decade of war. Since 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. .. took office in September, relations have markedly improved with Pakistain, which has long held influence with the Taliban, paving the way for possible dialogue. "Peace talks will inshallah (God willing) start in the next few days, this is in the interest of Afghanistan," Abdullah said during a meeting of the country's Council of Ministers. Abdullah took the newly-created role of chief executive, similar to prime minister, as part of a deal to end a protracted election crisis with presidential rival Ghani. "The people of Afghanistan will be informed of the start of these talks, of developments and of when they end. "Abdullah hailed the visit of the army chief General Raheel Sharif to Kabul last week. "We welcome his statement saying Afghanistan's enemy is Pakistain's enemy," Abdullah said. "They said to those involved in the fighting, the Taliban, that they have no other option but to talk with the Afghan government. "But the faceless myrmidons denied that talks were about to begin. |
| Posted by:Fred |