Afghan peace process facing yet another setback

The Afghan peace process is facing yet another setback after Taliban rejected President Ashraf Ghani's 21-member negotiation team for an intra-Afghan dialogue aimed at ending the 19-year long conflict in war-torn Afghanistan.
After weeks of delay, the Ghani administration on March 27 announced a 21-member team, headed by former chief of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) Masoom Stanekzai, to negotiate with the Taliban under the aegis of The intra-Afghan negotiations as agreed in February 29, 2020 U.S.-Taliban peace deal.
However, Taliban rejected the team a day after it was announced, saying that the team constituted by the Afghan government cannot represent all the groups in Afghanistan.
In a statement posted on a Taliban's affiliated website, Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for Taliban, said that since the very beginning, the Taliban have adopted its 'principled' stance that the Kabul administration can participate in the intra-Afghan dialogue as a delegation along with other Afghan groups.
"The team announced is against the spirit of agreement signed with United States and in contrast to our principled position," the Taliban spokesman added.
He further said that in order to achieve a lasting peace through a deal, the team should have been constituted with consent of all the groups in Afghanistan representing all the segments. "Now it appears that many groups are not accepting the team," Zabihullah further stated in a statement in Pashto language, while rejecting the Afghan government's team.
Commenting on the latest setback to the Afghan peace process, Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui shared Pakistan's concern over the delay, saying, "It is a matter of concern that some delays have occurred in the implementation of the peace agreement".
She said that Pakistan had welcomed the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement signed in Doha on 29 February. "We consider it a historic opportunity for Afghans to work towards lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan," she said. However, we are hopeful that all Afghan groups would seize this opportunity and work towards implementation of the peace agreement in letter and spirit, she added.
"We would like to see the next steps following the Doha Peace Agreement taken forward by all political parties of Afghanistan. The opportunity offered by the peace agreement must be seized for lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan," the spokesperson said while talking to Business Recorder.
Violence in Afghanistan is showing a visible decline since the signing of the peace agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban on February 29, 2020 with the exception of March 25 when a major terror attack on a Gurdwara in Kabul, killed 25 Sikh worshipers.
In the attack which was claimed by Daesh, also known as the Islamic State claimed that one of the three attackers was an Indian national Abu Khalid Al-Hindi. This month also witnessed a major decline in terrorist attacks in Pakistan, with only two major incidents reported as compared to six during the month of February.
Ten major terror attacks were carried out in different parts of the country during this year in which 89 people were killed, according to the data complied by Business Recorder from independent sources.
During the current month, a total of 14 people were killed in two different terrorist attacks that included a March 9 terror attack in Tank District, Dera Ismail Khan and another on March 18 in Mama Ziarat area, North Waziristan.
In February, a total of six attacks were reported in different parts of the country in which 52 were killed and 38 others injured.
These included an attack in Salarzaiz Tehsil Bajaur, Khayber Pakhtunkhaw, on February 2, the attack on February 17 near Quetta Press Club, Balochistan, an attack at Singslia area Dera Bugit Balochistan on February 19, the attack in Turbat District, Balochistan on February 20, the terror in Shagai area, Peshawar, on February 21 and another terror attack in Peshawar on February 23.