KABUL - Government officials briefed Wolesi Jirga members behind closed doors on the Taliban’s Qatar office, but some lawmakers believed the session should have been open, not in-camera.
National Security Advisor Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Foreign Minister Zalmay Rassoul and High Peace Council (HPC) Secretary Masoom Stanikzai were summoned by the lower house to brief MPs on the Taliban’s office in Doha.
One lawmaker quoted Dr. Spanta as saying that reconciliation negotiations were yet to get under way and that the government was not in contact with any key Taliban figure.
As Stanikzai insisted the session should take place behind closed doors, nearly 90 members raised their green cards in support of his call, while 15 legislators walked out of the assembly in protest.
The HPC secretary insisted on an in-camera session because the officials did not want Afghans to detect their lies and the mistakes they had made in the process, one public representative told reporters.
Syed Ishaq Gilani, one of the MPs who staged the walkout, alleged the government had been trying to conceal the truth.
The masses had been increasingly hopeless about the HPC performance, particularly after Salahuddin Rabbani’s appointment as chief peace negotiator, Gilani claimed. PHC heads have been from a particular party, he added.
Stanikzai informed members that some senior Taliban figures, including Syed Tayeb Agha, were in secret contact with the government to facilitate the process, said a lawmaker from northern Faryab province, Naqibullah Faiq.
According to Stanikzai, the Taliban officials in touch with the government did not want to disclose their names. If they reveal their identities, the Taliban leaders fear the peace process can run into snags.
Spanta was quoted as saying the reconciliation effort had stalled, because the Taliban in contact with the government had no influence on the movement. Militants with personal or tribal links with PHC members were in talks with the government, the advisor explained, according to Faiq.
Spanta reportedly said the US had come to Afghanistan to defeat Al-Qaeda, a network that had strong roots in Pakistan and should be targeted there. He saw no hope for the early resumption of dialogue on the Bilateral Security Agreement.
The explanation offered by the officials contained nothing substantive or special, said a legislator from Sar-i-Pul, Syed Anwar Sadat. (Pajhwok)