Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmed Khan says that the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan is a “difficult and complex” process.
Speaking to Geo News from Kabul, the ambassador said that both sides are hopeful they will achieve this goal.
He said that the prime concern of the international community is the formation of an inclusive government as it is the only thing that can ensure peace in the war-ridden country.
He said that ever since the Taliban took over, the Taliban and Afghan leaders, including former president Hamid Karzai, Dr Abdulla Abdullah, and Gulbadin Hekmatyar, are in talks for the formation of a government.
When asked whether he was hopeful of the establishment of an inclusive government in Afghanistan, he said, “I have talked to both sides and my feedback is that they are hopeful of moving closer to that objective in the next few days and we are also hopeful that both parties will try to achieve it, but that it will be a difficult and complex process.”
There are some difficulties, however. According to him, there are complex ethnic dimensions in Afghanistan. While the Taliban call themselves representative of Pashtuns, there are non-Pashtun groups as well, and this makes the process more difficult.
“And when we talk about an inclusive government through political settlement, a major issue is what sort of constitution is acceptable. Both sides have different opinions. Human rights is also an important issue that remains to be discussed and the inclusivity element is also needed to be addressed.”
Mansoor Ahmed Khan, who had met the Afghan leaders over the last few days after the Taliban takeover, said he calls it a complex process because bringing all these forces at one point is difficult.
He was also asked about whether the Taliban are showing flexibility in the talks.
To this he said, “the negotiations held with Taliban in the last two years are very clear and the international community’s aspirations were conveyed to the Tailban that an inclusive political setup which has rule of law which also respects human rights, women’s rights and according to the wishes of the people of Afghanistan will be acceptable to the world.”
The envoy said, in his understanding, the Taliban now realise that the concerns were raised after the exclusive government they established in the 1990s.
