The UN Security Council said in the statement on Friday that it calls on the Afghan government and the Taliban movement to continue pursuing confidence-building measures and engaging in good faith peace negotiations
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2020) The UN Security Council said in the statement on Friday that it calls on the Afghan government and the Taliban movement to continue pursuing confidence-building measures and engaging in good faith peace negotiations.
"The members of the Security Council welcomed the start of Afghanistan Peace Negotiations in Doha, Qatar on September 12 2020," the statement said. "The members of the Security Council strongly encouraged parties to the negotiations to continue pursuing confidence-building measures including reductions in violence, and to continue to engage in good faith."
The UN Security Council members also said they believed a sustainable peace could only be achieved through a comprehensive and inclusive Afghan-led peace process aiming for a permanent ceasefire and political settlement of the conflict in Afghanistan.
On February 29, the Taliban and the United States reached a landmark agreement in the Qatari capital of Doha. The key provisions of the deal were that the Taliban and the Afghan government release each other's prisoners - 1,000 and 5,000, respectively - and that the radical movement commits to reduce violence, as prerequisites of launching intra-Afghan talks.
The intra-Afghan negotiations, which began on Saturday in Doha, are now expected to pave the way for a peace process and withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan after almost two decades of war and insurgency.
