KABUL - Taliban have no justification for continuing their war after the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country, says the Afghan ambassador to the United States.
Roya Rahmani said in an interview the planned withdrawal of US and NATO troops, to be completed by Sept. 11, had mounted pressure on the Taliban to shun violence.
She told Foreign Policy: “For 20 years, [the] Taliban were justifying their war on the basis of the presence of foreign troops on the ground.”
She went on to ask if the Taliban’s war was really about the presence of foreign troops, time had arrived for them to break their silence on peace talks, stop killings and become a constructive part of Afghan society.
Following the postponement of the Istanbul summit on fast-tracking the Afghan peace process, remarked; “the ball is in the Taliban’s court.”
In response to a query, the diplomat said the Afghan government should continue to create space for women to be incorporated in decision-making at all levels, whether it was in government, or in legislative bodies.
“But I have to tell you this is directly tied to what happens, security-wise, because the deterioration of security impacts women in more ways than the rest of the system.”
Asked about her expectations on the security front in the next few months, she replied the Afghan forces had been independently conducting over 96 percent of all operations.
As for the vacuum that the departure of foreign troops would create would be filled with additional support for the Afghan security forces, the ambassador hoped.
Many parts of last year’s Doha agreement were violated by the Taliban, including attacks on city centres, she alleged, insisting the deal had brought no change to the Afghans.
“The only thing that they did respecting that agreement was not attacking the American and allied forces. But in terms of the Afghan forces and civilians, there has been an uptick throughout…”
In response to the query if Taliban could be part of an interim government, Rahmani said it was the only way forward. “If they are Afghans, if they want to live in a peaceful Afghanistan, this is the time.
She believed Afghanistan needed continued support for its security forces, who continued to be at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and extremism.
“We need civilian assistance with the kind of programming that would help Afghanistan toward self-sufficiency. In the medium term, what is very important is to support Afghanistan’s budget, especially in the face of the economic crisis that was exacerbated by the COVID situation.”
Under Taliban’s rule, the ambassador recalled, Afghanistan was not recognised internationally and had trade with only one other country in the world.
“It was a country that was disconnected from the rest of the world, there [was] no single girl being enrolled in school. The Afghanistan of today is a completely different.
“From being a full member of the World Trade Organization to a country that is more than 85 percent connected to mobile phones, to a country [where] 40 percent of school enrollments are comprised of girls.” (Pajhwok)