ISLAMABAD: Former interior minister and Chairman Institute of Research and Reforms (IRR) Senator Abdul Rehman Malik has said that currently the Taliban are being cursed for the non-inclusion of females in their cabinet and the international community will continue to curse them as they will drive their agenda without any hindrance.
“It is unfair at the present to keep Taliban isolated as they need to be brought into the mainstream and be made a part of the international community. Let us see how the international community takes up the matter of Taliban in the UNSC to resolve it,” he questioned in a statement on Monday.
Rehman Malik said that the announcement of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan was made first during the time of President Obama, but that time, the warmongering policy of the US to overpower the Middle East and Iran was in full swing as part of the great idea of President George W Bush. He said that President Obama had stated that the US forces and CIA had achieved their longstanding target and objective in capturing and killing Osama bin Laden. He said that Obama had also confirmed that the US was holding preliminary peace talks with the Taliban leadership and also the UN Security Council.
He said that Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, both presidential candidates, were trying to succeed President Hamid Karzai and had promised to sign a security agreement with the US as a prerequisite of any post-2014 US troop presence, hence the drawdown was slowed down leaving behind 8,400 troops.
He said that in October 2018, the newly appointed US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad travelled to Doha to explore the potential for peace talks in a meeting with the Taliban, and on 25th October 2018, Pakistan finally released former Taliban deputy leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, upon US’ request. “The US and Taliban began overt bilateral negotiations in Doha, agreeing to discuss military withdrawal, counterterrorism, and a ceasefire while the talks continued over the next eight months,” he added.