‘Ashraf Ghani should release secret tapes of peace talks’

KABUL: Following remarks by the former US envoy for Afghan peace Zalmay Khalilzad over the failure of the Afghan peace process, former vice president Amrullah Saleh has asked former president Ashraf Ghani to release the tapes secretly recorded during peace talks with Khalilzad and other foreign officials.

Khalilzad in his recent interview with CNN said that Ghani was thinking the US would never leave Afghanistan, that he had miscalculated the strength of the Afghan armed forces and was insisting on remaining in power. According to Khalilzad, these issues created problems in the way of the peace talks and increased the gap between the Ghani government and Taliban in reaching a political settlement. Reacting to the remarks, Saleh in a series of tweets has asked Ghani to release the tapes recorded in July and August during talks with Khalilzad and some other foreign officials.

“I call on Ashraf Ghani to release the tapes (esp. Jul/Aug) of the conversations with Khalilzad and other relevant foreign diplomats on peace process to counter the growing propaganda,” he said.