Taliban cannot win in battlefield: Hekmatyar

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: The leader of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin Hekmatyar says the Taliban group cannot win in the battlefield as he insisted on reconciliation process as the only way forward to put an end to ongoing violence. Hekmatyar made the remarks during a gathering to mark the 29th year of the withdrawal of the Soviet forces from the country.

He called on the Taliban group to join peace process and said “Taliban militants should adopt the same approach as adopted by the Hezb-e-Islami.” This comes as the Taliban group has so far not shown any interest or readiness to participate in peace talks with the Afghan government.

The group however published an open letter addressing the American nation and Congress in which the Taliban showed readiness for the dialogue to end the violence. Taliban called on the American nation and Congress to put pressures on American military and end the so-called occupation of Afghanistan.

In the meantime, Hekmatyar insisted on timely, free, fair and transparent elections to end the ongoing crisis and issues in the country. Hekmatyar called on all Afghans to participate in the upcoming elections and urged the all parties involved in organizing the elections including the international community to pave the way for the participation of all political parties to monitor the elections process.