Internal Disputes in Afghanistan Threaten US-Taliban Deal - Pakistani Senator

ST. PETERSBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th March, 2020) The landmark peace agreement between the United States and the radical Taliban movement is most threatened by the internal political disputes within Afghanistan, Pakistani Senator Sehar Kamran told Sputnik.

After the US-Taliban deal was signed in late February, Pakistan reemerged as a key player in the Afghan peace process.

"The biggest threat to the future of this deal comes from within Afghanistan," Kamran said.

She went on to say that this threat was borne out of internal disputes; lack of trust; the dispute between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and former Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah over presidential election results; growing differences between stakeholders; and the failure to establish an inclusive national team to participate in intra-Afghan negotiations and take measures to ensure the release of prisoners as a confidence-building measure to reach a political settlement and ceasefire.

"The deal remains fragile without intra-Afghan peace talks and dialogue, which is likely to be further delayed," the senator said.

Over the past year, the US had held a number of peace talks with the Taliban in a bid to encourage the group to cut ties with terrorists and begin rapprochement with the Afghan government, paving the way for US troops to pull out.

On February 29, the US and the Taliban agreed to a peace deal that, among other things, set the beginning of intra-Afghan talks for March 10. However, the power crisis between Afghan Ghani and his political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, who refuses to concede his defeat in the presidential election, as well as Kabul's reluctance to exchange prisoners with the Taliban, resulted in a standstill in the peace process.