Afghanistan makes no distinction between Taliban: Abdullah Abdullah

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 4

Afghanistan today said it makes no distinction between the Taliban. This was today stated by Abdullah Abdullah, CEO of Afghanistan, at a breakfast interaction with journalists. His statement is significant since it does away with the distinction between 'good' Taliban and 'bad' Taliban that Pakistan has been trying to make in recent years.

Abdullah Abdullah elaborated on this point and said there are some groups that are not willing to give up violence “continue to fight forever, some not even ready to talk, once they agree to give up violence, want to be a part of the political process... they are not giving up the idea of an Islamic emirate as compared to an Islamic Republic, " he explained.

Abdullah Abdullah also pointedly said Pakistan is the country that has the most influence on the Taliban. Of late, Pakistan has been at the forefront of peace talks as far as Afghanistan is concerned, and has also succeeded in pushing India out as far as the quadrilateral talks on Afghanistan are concerned. The quadrilateral grouping includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States.

Abdullah Abdullah was, however, quick to reassure everyone of the importance Afghanistan attaches to India's role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. He said India is kept apprised of every initiative that is undertaken and that 'India is fully in the picture'. He added that India wants the talks to be an Afghan-led process.

While he declined to talk about the military co-operation between India and Afghanistan, he did say that "there is no limitation to what we can do together". Again while he did not want to get into the specifics of the Pathankot attack, he said in a veiled reference to Pakistan, that there are enough lessons for all of us to be learnt here. "These terrorist groups, irrespective of who created them will turn against them".

He underlined that the security of Afghanistan is their primary concern now and he is hopeful of elections being held this year in autumn.