The Afghan government and the Taliban will talk after a bloody year – HOWEVER

The Afghan government and the Taliban will talk after a bloody year – HOWEVER

Just three days after the government publicly denied talks with the Taliban and insisted that to date there has been no “direct dialogue” with them, the head of the Afghan government, Abdullah Abdullah, said today in a Cabinet that peace talks with the rebel group “will start in the near future.”

The announcement follows a year marked by violence, which has left a record 3,700 civilians killed in 2014, and coinciding with the presence in the country of the new Pentagon chief Ashton Carter.

In his first foreign trip after taking office last week as defense secretary, Carter said the United States will ” rethink “the scope of the mission of its troops in Afghanistan, whose full withdrawal is scheduled for late 2016.

Abdullah, former leader of the anti-Taliban fight today expressed his hope that the Government’s initiative to bring peace to Afghanistan after NATO put an end in January to its combat mission to pass to keep around 4,000 soldiers in assessment to law enforcement.

Afghan President Ashraf Gani, said today that the basis for negotiations are at their best three decades and considered the Afghan people must take this “unique opportunity” to restore peace in the country, according to a note from the presidential palace.

Gani has taken the first steps on the road to peace with the Taliban to maintain, for its part, meetings with senior politicians and civil society to probe the matter.

The future agreement with the rebel group will not go, however, to the detriment of the progress made over the last fourteen years since the invasion in 2001 US to overthrow the Taliban regime.

As indicated yesterday Abdullah during his speech at a conference in Kabul government will not compromise its “prestige, honor, reputation or rights” of Afghans.

The chief executive spokesman Javid Faisal told Efe that his neighbor Pakistan will have a “crucial” role in the peace process, in which all Afghans, including political and Islamic leaders will be kept informed.

Pakistan was precisely the origin last week of information suggesting that the Taliban and the US would hold direct talks in Qatar.

The information was immediately denied by “false” by the main insurgent group spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.