Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan, on Friday said the U.S. remains committed to the Afhgan peace process, despite repeated instances of the Taliban “violating the spirit” of the newly-minted peace deal with the U.S.
Since the Trump administration finalized its long-awaited Taliban peace deal in February, there have been an average of 55 Taliban attacks per day, according to figures from the Afghan government. The Pentagon has confirmed a strong uptick in the number of Taliban attacks against Afghan security forces in recent weeks.
“We recognize there are challenges but there is no better alternative to peace,” Mr. Khalilzad told reporters on a call Friday.
His comments come in the wake of two fatal attacks in Afghanistan that captured global headlines this week.
On Tuesday, gunmen stormed a maternity ward in Kabul that set off an hours-long shootout with police and left 19 women, nurses and newborns dead.
Days earlier, a suicide bomb was detonated on a funeral procession in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province that killed 26.
Mr. Khalilzad has attributed both attacks to ISIS, not the Taliban as previously believed by the Afghan government.
He said that the “key requirement” for the U.S. in the ongoing efforts to end 19 years of military involvement in Afghanistan is the comittment by the Taliban to reduce violence and terrorism.
“Violence and prisoners are the two obstacles at this point,” he said.
The U.S. has assessed that the Taliban has implemented their promise to not attack U.S. and coalition forces, despite the ongoing violence, and has not carried out attacks in major cities, as part of the deal.
But, he said that the Taliban continues to violate the spirit of the agreement as violence has not been drastically reduced.
“We believe that they are in violation of the spirit given the number of casualties and violence,” Mr. Khalilzad said.
The agreement was expected to forge the way for inter-Afghan peace talks between the government and the Taliban, but not only have the two sides failed to make serious progress in their direct talks, but the two sides also are on the verge of even greater conflict amid evidence of increasingly violent attacks by Islamic State factions.
Mr. Khalilzad insisted, however, that under the current circumstances, “the peace process is the best option and therefore we will persist.”
“The sooner inter-Afghan negotiations begin the sooner peace will come.”
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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