This statement comes mere days after a prematurely gloating and confident Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, confirmed a long-held secret while in Washington, that the senior leadership of the Afghan Taliban is “housed” in Pakistan.
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Talks brokered by a 4-country group were expected to start in early March, but the Taliban on Saturday stressed longstanding preconditions for dialogue including the departure of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
The statement said the leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, had not given any order to take part in talks and that the “leadership council of the Islamic Emirate” had not discussed the matter. It also said the government in Kabul had increased military operations in the winter.
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has expressed optimism about prospects for a new round of peace talks, but several high-ranking officials, including members of his own national unity administration, have taken a much more critical view.
He said the Taliban were facing a major test to choose whether they wanted peace or war.
The so-called Quadrilateral Coordination Group had wanted a direct dialog between Kabul and the Taliban to begin this week.
“We reject all such rumors and unequivocally state that the leader of Islamic Emirate has not authorized anyone to participate in this meeting”, the statement said. “They are on the run in Nangarhar, and Afghanistan will be their graveyard”, Ghani said.
This has prompted renewed efforts in the country and by neighbors to revive stalled negotiations between the militant group and the Afghan government.
According to a Pentagon report released in January, the security situation in Afghanistan deteriorated in the second half of 2015, with Taliban militants staging more attacks and inflicting far more casualties on Afghan forces.
There are more than 9,000 US troops remaining in the nation.
The Taliban have been behind scores of attacks that have threatened security and stability in Afghanistan for years, and there’s no indication they will let up anytime soon.
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Late last month, the QCG held its fourth meeting in Kabul to prepare for the resumption of direct talks between the Afghan government and both the Taliban and the Hezbi Islami, led by Gulbiddin Hekmatyar. The Pentagon announced last month that hundreds of U.S. Army soldiers will be deployed to Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand province to protect U.S. Special Operations forces operating in the area.
