This content was published on July 19, 2021 – 08:44
Kabul, Jul 19 (EFE) .- An extensive group of diplomatic missions in Kabul on Monday asked the Taliban to end their ongoing military offensive and engage in peace talks to end the two decades of war in the country .
The diplomatic missions in Kabul of Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Member States of the European Union, Japan, Korea, NATO and the United States called through a joint statement “an urgent end to the ongoing military offensive of the Taliban that it frustrates efforts to reach a negotiated solution to the conflict “which affects and displaces the civilian population.
“We condemn the continued targeted killings taking place across Afghanistan, the destruction of vital infrastructure, and the threats, statements and other actions against the achievements of Afghans in the last twenty years, achievements that we have strongly supported,” they noted in the brief. .
The Taliban offensive is in “direct contradiction” to their claim to support a negotiated settlement and to the Doha peace process and has resulted in the loss of innocent Afghan lives.
The international community’s call comes at a time when violence is unprecedented in Afghanistan, following the withdrawal of US and NATO forces on May 1.
Over the past two and a half months, the Taliban have rapidly increased their territorial gains and captured around 130 district centers, a territorial conquest unprecedented in the last two decades of war.
In Taliban-occupied districts, residents have reported attempts by the Taliban to suppress the human rights of women and girls and to shut down public and private media outlets, foreign missions said in the statement.
“On behalf of our respective missions, we vehemently condemn these and other actions that violate the human rights of Afghan citizens,” they claimed.
This call joins that of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) which has asked not only the insurgents, but also the Government of Kabul, to agree to a permanent and complete ceasefire and to participate fully in the negotiations. of peace.
The Afghan government and the Taliban have begun new efforts to accelerate the stalled intra-Afghan peace talks, which have been ongoing in Qatar for the past 10 months without any significant progress.
A new group of government representatives and the insurgent team held negotiations in Qatar on July 17-18 with the intention of reviving the talks.
The two-day meeting ended last night with a joint statement in which both sides emphasized the need to continue high-level meetings in the future and the need to speed up negotiations to reach a political agreement. EFE
© EFE 2021. The redistribution and redistribution of all or part of the contents of Efe’s services is expressly prohibited, without the prior and express consent of the EFE SA Agency.
–
