Taliban rejects Afghan government peace talks

On June 27, at a conference in Kyoto, western Japan, Mr. Mohammad Masoon Stanekzai, security advisor to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, proposed that the Taliban rebel group participate in peace negotiations, but a Taliban leader rejected this proposal.

This is the first conference attended by a senior Taliban leader since the group suspended secret peace talks with the US in March and also refused to negotiate with the Afghan government.

International peacekeeping soldiers in Afghanistan. (Source: AFP/VNA)

According to Japan's NHK Radio, at the conference, organized by Doshisha University in Kyoto, Mr. Stanekzai said that both sides need to make a commitment to avoid Afghanistan falling back into civil war.

Mr. Stanekzai also emphasized that the peace process needs the participation of all parties.

However, Din Mohammad, a former Taliban government minister and current member of the Taliban Political Council, has said his group will not sit at the negotiating table until US and foreign troops withdraw from Afghanistan.

The Kyoto conference comes ahead of an international conference on Afghanistan support, scheduled to take place in the Japanese capital Tokyo on July 8.

Earlier, on June 26, Kyodo news agency quoted Mr. Mohammad as saying that the Taliban would resume direct negotiations that had been stalled since March with the US if Washington complied with its initial conditions, including prisoner exchanges./.

According to VNA - DT