Taliban Link Progress in Afghan Peace Talks to Delisting of Top Leaders
Voice of America
ISLAMABAD - The Taliban have ruled out progress in otherwise stalled peace negotiations with their adversaries in Afghanistan unless, they say, their leaders are removed from U.S. and U.N. sanctions lists.
The hardened Taliban stance toward a political settlement to the deadly Afghan conflict comes amid intensified insurgent battlefield attacks, since the United States and NATO began pulling their last remaining troops from the country on May 1. In a commentary published on their official website, the Taliban described the sanctions as an obstacle in the negotiation process, saying that "so long as such lists exist" it would be "unreasonable" for the United Nations and other countries to expect intra-Afghan peace talks to successfully deliver a political settlement. "It is imperative for mutual trust that names of individuals associated with the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) be completely, and not conditionally or temporarily, be removed from black and reward lists," the Taliban said.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.
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