U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Kabul Monday on a previously unannounced visit to try to resolve a political dispute between President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah that has threatened to derail a deal signed between the U.S. and the Taliban last month. Both Ghani and Abdullah declared themselves president of the country after a contentious election. The trip, at a time when world leaders are limiting travel due to a coronavirus pandemic, and when the Trump administration’s Afghanistan czar Zalmay Khalilzad has been in Kabul for weeks trying to help sort out the political mess, speaks to the gravity of the dispute. FILE – Afghan presidential election opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah (L) and Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani are seen after a press conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, Feb. 29, 2020.“What we want is President Ghani and former chief executive Abdullah to come to an agreement about how to form an inclusive government that is acceptable to both,” a senior State Department official told reporters. “Both sides know there is some distance. Let’s see if they can overcome that today.” Meanwhile, after weeks of squabbling, the Afghan government and the Taliban made their first direct official contact Sunday using Skype video conferencing facilities to discuss the issue of prisoner release. “The over two-hour technical discussion today was important, serious, and detailed. My thanks to all sides. Everyone clearly understands the coronavirus threat makes prisoner releases that much more urgent,” tweeted Khalilzad, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation.
The over two-hour technical discussion today was important, serious, and detailed. My thanks to all sides. Everyone clearly understands the coronavirus threat makes prisoner releases that much more urgent.— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) March 22, 2020The issue of the release of up to 5000 Taliban prisoners in return for up to 1000 Afghan security personnel has been holding up the start of negotiations between Taliban and other Afghan factions that were supposed to commence on the 10th of March as per the deal signed between the U.S. and Taliban in Doha last month. A Qatar Foreign Ministry statement called the talks “fruitful and constructive, in which the two parties discussed important issues related to the lists of prisoners and how to verify them and the locations of their release and transfer them to the agreed locations.” Both the United States and Qatar, the two parties that facilitated the contact, made sure to identify it as “technical talks” focused on prisoner release to avoid making them sound like the start of official negotiations. The Taliban have strongly refused to negotiate with the Afghan government, calling it a puppet of the Americans. Instead, they have agreed to negotiate with a team of Afghans including representative of various political factions, including the government, civil society activists, women, and others.
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