Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said during a press conference that the Doha peace deal between the Taliban and the United States will lead to an enduring peace between his government and the Taliban.
Ghani welcomed the deal’s stipulation of an intra-Afghan dialogue after the agreement and said that all sides should honour peace, stating that “we, together with Taliban, should respect this holy wish of our nation”.
The Afghan president said that he had raised the demand for the exit of foreign troops as around 94% of the security operations in Afghanistan were being conducted by the Afghan national forces.
Ghani thanked the NATO countries and the US government for their technical and financial assistance. He called on all present at the press conference to observe a one-minute silence for the people who had been lost in the conflict. The US “will not hesitate to nullify” its historic deal with the Taliban if they renege on their security guarantees and commitment to hold talks with the Afghan government, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday. Esper, who was in Kabul, warned that “should the Taliban fail to honour their commitments, they will forfeit their chance to sit with fellow Afghans and deliberate on the future of their country.”
“Moreover, the United States would not hesitate to nullify the agreement,” he warned.— Agencies
