The Taliban said Monday in Tehran that they will continue their “fight” if foreign troops do not leave Afghan soil by May 2021, as agreed with the United States.
A Taliban delegation, chaired by their chief negotiator Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been in the Iranian capital for a week to discuss the peace process in Afghanistan. She met Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday.
“The maintenance of the troops after 14 months, whether it is American or NATO (troops), means the continuation of the occupation of Afghanistan,” said Suhail Shaheen, member of the Taliban delegation, at the meeting. ‘a press conference.
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Negotiations between the Taliban and Washington led at the end of February 2020 to a historic agreement providing for inter-Afghan discussions and the total withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan – mainly American – by May 2021.
The United States still has 2,500 troops present in Afghanistan.
“We have been fighting the occupation for twenty years. So (if the troops are maintained) we are forced to continue our fight and our jihad ”, added Mr. Shaheen.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Friday that he was counting on the administration of Joe Biden to put pressure on the Taliban and make “the right decision” on the American military presence in Afghanistan.
The new American administration has already stated that it wants to review the February 2020 agreement and maintain the means to fight terrorism in Afghanistan.
The Afghan government accuses the Taliban of being responsible for the lack of progress in the inter-Afghan talks that began in September 2020 in Doha, which have so far not led to any real progress.
Kabul is trying to achieve a permanent ceasefire and the maintenance of the system of governance in place since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001 by a coalition led by the United States.
The Taliban have refused for the moment any concession, even though for several months the capital and several Afghan provinces have been plagued by an upsurge in violence.
Targeted assassinations of journalists, politicians and rights defenders have become more and more frequent.
According to a report by the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Reconstruction of Afghanistan (Sigar, which reports to the US Congress) released on Monday, 810 civilians were killed in Afghanistan during the last quarter of 2020, and 1,776 others were injured .