No talks till Ghani is president, PM quotes Taliban

ISLAMABAD: Taliban leaders have said they will not negotiate with the Afghan government as long as Ashraf Ghani remains the president, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday.

Talking to foreign journalists here, the prime minister said a political settlement was looking difficult under current conditions. "I tried to persuade the Taliban... three to four months back when the Taliban senior leadership came here," Khan said.

"The condition is that as long as Ashraf Ghani is there, we (Taliban) are not going totalk to the Afghan government," Khan said, quoting the Taliban leaders as telling him. 

Imran Khan said he felt the Afghan government was now trying to convince the United States to come back and intervene again. "They've been here for 20 years... What will they do now that they did not do for 20 years?" he said. Khan said Pakistan had "made it very clear" that it does not want any American military bases in Pakistan after the US forces exit Afghanistan.