Taliban unwavering over Islamic Emirate: sources

The Taliban is demanding a total Islamic system in Afghanistan, stating that there is no possibility of reforming the current government, sources said Wednesday.

This comes after the Afghan Republic’s talks team and the Taliban team resumed negotiations in Doha two weeks ago. However, the two sides have not made any significant progress since the start of the second round of negotiations.

But sources familiar with the ongoing peace talks told Ariana News that the Taliban are not interested in discussing an agenda with the Republic’s team, and that the group is focused instead on the following issues:

1- The Taliban is demanding the release of their remaining prisoners and the removal of the group’s leaders and members from the US Blacklist; the Afghan government has however requested the US not to give in to the Taliban’s demands.

2- The Taliban demands a pure Islamic system in Afghanistan, stating that the current government cannot be reformed.

3- Apparently, the Taliban are waiting for US President-elect Joe Biden to be inaugurated and to see what his position will be with regards to the Afghan peace process.

4- The Taliban says that the targeted killings of civilians, including the assassination of two female judges this week in Kabul, were unavoidable as they all supported a “puppet government”.

The Taliban has, however, so far, not commented on these claims.

Meanwhile, Vice President Amrullah Saleh stated that in order to move forward with the peace talks, trust needs to be built between the two sides. This, he said, will not be “achieved by killing civilians or kidnapping people from highways.”

In his daily 6:30 am meeting, Saleh threatened the Taliban that if the militant group continues to kill innocent people, members of civil society, and carry out bombings, “then not just the release of Taliban prisoners will be on the peace talks agenda but their lives will be” a point of discussion.