No major move on peace process, says Abdullah

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah in the Council of Ministers meeting on Monday said that “no major step has been taken on the peace process so far”, referring to recent efforts by the United States and the Afghan government to find a political settlement to the 18-year-old war in the country.

“Unfortunately, the fighting is still ongoing during Ramadhan. We wanted a ceasefire during this month, but so far it’s not agreed,” Abdullah said.

The Taliban still continues the fighting and so far, no basic step has been taken about the peace process, he reiterated.

His remarks come as the Taliban rejected a call by the grand council of 3,200 delegates from around the country who asked the group to agree on a ceasefire with the Afghan government — at least during Ramadhan — to move forward the peace process.

The sixth round of the US and Taliban talks in Doha was wrapped up last week with “steady but slow” progress on key issues under debate, including foreign forces withdrawal and counterterrorism assurances as the US chief negotiator ZalmayKhalilzad put it.

However, the Taliban seemed optimistic about the outcome of the sixth round of Qatar talks as they described it in a statement. The group said that the two sides are preparing for the next round of the talks.(TOLOnews)