Afghan peace talks hit snag over foreign troops

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan

The prospects for a peace deal between the Afghan government and an influential political faction have been hit by a disagreement over the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.

Hezb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar wrote on the party-linked Daily Shahadat on Monday reiterating his and the Taliban’s longstanding demand that foreign forces leave Afghanistan.

The party has been staunchly against the pro-West Afghan governments since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 but has recently entered into talks with the government.

Abdul Khabeer, deputy chief of the High Peace Council (HPC) in Kabul, said the government and Hezb-i-Islami have agreed an agenda for the peace talks but that in the latest round of talks, Hekmatyar’s group presented demands the government could not accept.

The government has insisted that Hezb-i-Islami recognize the Bilateral Security Agreement signed with the US to handle its presence after the end of its combat mission in 2014 but Hekmatyar has been reluctant to publicly approve it.

Hekmatyar has been an influential figure in Afghan politics since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the late 1970s, when his Hezb-i-Islami were part of the Mujahideen coalition that fought the Soviet forces.

The Afghan government have sought peace with armed groups that oppose its authority but attempts for a peace deal with the Taliban have faltered over the past year, after it was revealed the group's founder Mullah Omar had died.