Afghan govt asks Taliban to introduce team for talks

AVA- Addressing reporters here, Deputy Presidential Spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazavi said the ownership of the peace process belonged to the government of Afghanistan.
He said the government by announcing its negotiating team showed it was determined and honest and strong believed in peace negotiations. “We expect the Taliban to announce their team for talks if they believe in peace and dialogue,” he said.
“The Taliban should accept the Constitution, or if they want changes in it, the method of amending Constitution is clearly mentioned,” said Murtazavi.
Referring to the growing criticism on formation of the government negotiating team, he said, as per the law any decision regarding peace and war was the right of the president.
“No country could talk with Taliban on behalf of the government of Afghanistan because the party to the negotiations is the government of Afghanistan and other countries play the role of facilitators,” he said, while referring to efforts of US Peace Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the High Peace Council (HPC).
“We want to tell our neighbouring countries that no threat has been posed to them from Afghanistan.”
Stressing state to state relationship with neighboring countries, Murtazavi said they expected the neighbors not to seek their interest in support of terrorist groups.
The presidential spokesman said the government fully believed in the independence of the Election Commission and every decision of the election bodies was acceptable to the government. He reiterated the government’s financial support for the election commissions.
Referring to Afghanistan’s commitments with the international community, he said 68 percent progress had been made in some areas while work on key developments was ongoing and opportunities for further progress existed in every department.