Afghanistan: Taliban rejects Kabul’s offer to take part in parliamentary election

KABUL (TCA) — The Taliban has rejected Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani’s call for the group to take part in the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections in the country, TOLOnews reported.

In a statement issued by the group on April 16, they reiterated their stance that Afghanistan is an occupied country.

This comes after Ghani last Saturday officially launched the voter registration process and signed up to vote in the upcoming elections.

Speaking at the event, Ghani reiterated the peace offer made in February to the Taliban and said they must end the war and register as a political group.

He also said the Taliban should prepare themselves to take part in the elections adding that elections were a means to end disagreements.

But the Taliban said in their statement that Afghanistan is occupied, with thousands of foreign troops in the country and that major political and military decisions are “made by the occupiers”.

“We have seen in past elections that people have been cheated and the final decision was taken by John Kerry (former US Secretary of State), and the National Unity Government was created at the US embassy in Kabul,” the statement read.

The group also called on the people to boycott the elections.

The Taliban has still not however responded to Ghani’s peace offer made at the Kabul Process meeting at the end of January.

Last week, Hakimullah Mujahid, a former member of the insurgent group said the Taliban are holding discussions about Ghani’s peace offer.

Mujahid, who is now a member of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council (HPC), said: “The Taliban are conducting consultations and there is the possibility that they give a positive response to the Afghan government.”

Sergey Kwan

Sergey Kwan

Sergey Kwan has worked for The Times of Central Asia as a journalist, translator and editor since its foundation in March 1999. Prior to this, from 1996-1997, he worked as a translator at The Kyrgyzstan Chronicle, and from 1997-1999, as a translator at The Central Asian Post.
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Kwan studied at the Bishkek Polytechnic Institute from 1990-1994, before completing his training in print journalism in Denmark.

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