Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in a statement that he made on Wednesday (8 July) said, the fate of the peace process will be decided by the people of Afganistan, the TOLO news reported.
The Afghan government wants the Taliban to merge into the political system of Afganistan and Ghani said, “It is our responsibility to merge the Taliban in the structure of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan which will happen hopefully. But we must remember that the final decision about peace will be taken by the people of Afghanistan”.
The elected Afghan government was never involved when the talks were held between the Americans and the Taliban. However, there is a possibility of direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, sometime this month.
Conceding to the Taliban’s demand, the Afghan government, have so far released 4,015 Taliban prisoners and the process will continue.
The Taliban had previously stated no peace will be possible unless Kabul releases all the Taliban prisoners as per the deal the Islamic militant group signed with the US in February.
Also on Wednesday, members of the government peace negotiating team said, “There are different options, we are ready to go to Doha, we hope that the Taliban get prepared as soon as possible so that we can sit together and seek ways for peace and make peace for a common future.”
The 21-member peace negotiating team is currently working in four groups as part of their preparations for talks with the Taliban.